


Cherry and Atticus: Shadow Play

by PerkyGoth14



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 14:17:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18251534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: Atticus, Cherry, Mo, and Patch are sent to Equestria, and meet up in Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's throne room where Sunburst has big news about the legendary Star Swirl the Bearded and the Pillars of Light who defeated the Shadow Pony thousands of years ago, but they are ALL soon brought back to life from the other side in a brand new Equestrian adventure.





	1. Chapter 1

It was just another day in school for our adventure group, studying a bit during their lunch hour.

"I. Hate. Studying." Cherry groaned as she banged her head on the table.

"Who doesn't?" Mo asked.

"Atticus." Cherry smirked.

Atticus glanced over and Cherry chuckled to him.

"She's not wrong." Patch shrugged.

"Fair enough." Atticus shrugged back.

"I don't mind school and all, really I don't, but studying is killing me..." Cherry groaned. "Studying regular classes and magic classes is just murder on me."

"I'd really like to go to Equestria right now." Atticus said.

"I'd rather go anywhere but here..." Cherry groaned as her head hit the table again.

Mo let out a small yawn as she took out her book to keep studying a bit. They soon saw their Equestrian Medallions and Patch's dog tag disguised necklace glow, telling them one thing.

"Free at last! Free at last! Thank Celestia almighty, we are free-" Cherry soon beamed and stood on top of the table.

The other students soon stared at her like she was crazy.

"At last...?" Cherry said sheepishly.

"No standing on school property, Miss Butler." Mr. Kraft told Cherry as he passed by.

"Yes, Mr. Kraft." Cherry smiled sheepishly.

Some of the others laughed at Cherry as she got down from the table.

"Loser." Cassandra smirked as she stood with Tiffany and Margo.

"Come on, Cherry, let's get some fresh air." Atticus suggested.

"Alright." Cherry said.

But before they could leave...

"Cherry Butler, Atticus Fudo, Monique Brown, and, uh, Patch Fudo to the principal's office." A familiar voice announced.

Cherry had slightly wide eyes before gulping to that.

"Now, now, it can't be that bad." Atticus smiled, showing his usual optimism.

"Heh... You're right... Maybe Mom misses me at work." Cherry said nervously.

They soon went to the principal's office and saw Drell.

"My worst nightmares are REAL!" Cherry panicked to the others.

"You four are dismissed from school." Drell said as he mind controlled the real principal.

"You four are dismissed from school." The principal repeated in a robotic tone.

The four looked to each other before looking back.

After they left the school with Drell...

"Did you really have to control the principal?" Patch asked. "We were gonna get to Equestria anyway. We always do this, it's like when the Powerpuff Girls get a call on the hotline. It goes off, we dash, end of story."

"And how would you explain how long you were gone?" Drell asked.

"Simple! We would-Uh... Um... We..." Cherry replied stopping and looking puzzled before mumbling so he wouldn't hear. "Never mind."

"And which why I did this." Drell said as everyone ran out before the school exploded.

Atticus, Cherry, Mo, and Patch looked jaw-dropped over what just happened.

"DRELL?! WHAT THE F-" Cherry yelped.

"This way, you guys don't get expelled for any missed school days." Drell said.

"Did you have to destroy the school?!" Cherry asked.

"Oh... And what would you do?" Drell replied before smirking, crossing his arms. "Call in sick pretending to be your mother?"

"Dang it." Cherry groaned as that was what she would have done.

"This seems important, Drell, are you coming with us?" Atticus asked him as they left the school grounds.

"Yes, I am," Drell nodded. "Along with your father."

"Patrick's coming?" Cherry asked. "This should be interesting."

"Come along now, I'll explain later." Drell told them urgently.

"Boy, this Equestrian adventure sounds intense already." Mo commented.

"And you'll understand why when we arrive at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's throne room." Drell told her.

The others looked to him before looking to each other as they soon went into the park where no one would see them.

Once there, the portal to Equestria opened up, and they soon jumped through it to begin a brand new Equestrian adventure, and where the portal made them appear in the Princesses' throne room in their pony forms. The Princesses looked over.

"Your Majesties~" Cherry said in a royal accent before bowing.

"Are we early?" Drell asked the royal pony sisters.

"Maybe just a little bit," Princess Celestia replied. "Why don't you all relax?"

Atticus, Cherry, Mo, and Patch fell to the floor, falling asleep.

"Looks like they're way ahead of you, Celestia." Patrick chuckled.

"They act like I haven't let them get a full night's sleep in a while." Drell said.

"I don't think ya have." Patrick smirked.

Drell then shot him a look in response to that.

"When was the last time they got any sleep?" Patrick smirked.

"...Shuddap." Drell muttered.

"My point exactly." Patrick smirked.

Sunburst soon came in.

"Hey, Sunburst!" Patrick smiled. "Long time, no see."

"Hey, Patrick." Sunburst smiled back.

"Where's Emily?" Sunburst wondered.

"A bit busy," Patrick replied. "She sends her love. I didn't want her to worry, but luckily, our daughter Jessica won passes to a spa so they could decompress and relax."

"That's great." Sunburst smiled.

"She got a little emotional when I told her I had to come here alone." Patrick replied.

"I imagine so," Drell said. "Emily's always been an emotional woman."

Sometime later, the Mane Six, Starlight, and Spike soon arrived. Luckily, the others woke up by then.

Cherry yawned, putting her hoof to her mouth a bit before smiling in a daze. "That was the best sleep I've had in a long time."

Drell rolled his eyes slightly before seeing the group coming into the throne room. "All right... Now that we're all here." he then said.

"I've made a discovery," Sunburst told the others. "It's from Star Swirl the Bearded's journal."

"Cool." Atticus smiled.

"Please, let me see." Princess Celestia said.

"Of course, Princess." Sunburst replied as he allowed her to.

"This should be interesting." Patch said.

Everyone came closer together as Princess Celestia took a look at the journal page.

"'The best elements within us can spread light and virtue, and I know ponies who represent them all – strength, bravery, healing, beauty, hope, and sorcery," Princess Celestia read aloud for a bit which told the adventure group a bit more since they weren't native to Equestria. "Myself and these Pillars of Equestria were gathered together by another to maintain and share the light of these powerful ideals. But we soon came to believe the pony who brought us together only wanted that power for himself. Cast out and alone, this power-mad pony turned to darkness to satisfy his thirst. Transformed into a Pony of Shadows, he returned for revenge – to extinguish the Pillars' light and rob the world of hope. To stop him, the Pillars and I must make a grave sacrifice. But we shall leave behind a seed in hopes that one day it will grow into a force to stand against the darkness for all time. We must now face the fiend with the only plan we have, I only hope it will be enough'," she then concluded before smiling. "I've always wondered what happened to Star Swirl. This is quite a discovery, Sunburst."

"Yeah, where'd you find it?" Atticus asked Sunburst.

"It was lost until I found it in my study, and I decided to look it over." Sunburst replied.

"So it's genuine?" Twilight asked as she looked very excited. "You can verify that this journal really belonged to Star Swirl the Bearded?!"

"Indeed. From the looks of it, the last thing he wrote before facing the Pony of Shadows." Princess Luna confirmed.

"What do you think happened to him and The Pilars of Light?" Mo asked.

"DOOOOOM!" Cherry said dramatically.

The others glanced at her and she grinned sheepishly.

"If that were true, Patrick and I would have remembered this world doomed to be in darkness." Drell told her.

"Lighten up, I was just kidding." Cherry smiled sheepishly.

"Princess Luna, Celestia, do you guys know what happened with the Pillars of Light?" Patch asked.

"We never met the other Pillars, and we were too young to understand the danger they faced." Princess Luna said.

"But Patrick and I did." Drell said.

"Hold on a second now!" Applejack spoke up. "All those legendary ponies were real, too? And they went off with Star Swirl to face the Pony of Shadows, and then none of them were ever heard from again?"

Sunburst nodded to her.

"Uh, yeah," Pinkie Pie smiled. "Weren't you listening?"

"But what happened to them all?" Fluttershy asked, referring to Star Swirl the Bearded and the Pillars of Light.

"They must have defeated the villain, since Equestria is still full of light and hope." Rarity suggested with a smile.

"But how? And where did they go?" Starlight replied.

"My Olde Ponish is a bit rusty, but I wonder if the answers can be found somewhere within the pages of this book." Princess Celestia told the others.

"Twilight, do you think you could translate the Olde Ponish?" Patrick asked Twilight.

Twilight's eyes widened before she smiled innocently. "Well, I just happen to be an expert in Olde Ponish," she then said, trying not to brag, but she did sound proud of herself. "I mean, I've practically memorized every ancient text about Star Swirl there is!"

"Seriously. All of them." Spike groaned slightly.

"Wow, guess we found our translator then." Drell said.

"We have fond memories of our old teacher," Princess Luna said as she gave the book to Twilight who happily took it. "If you could discover what happened to him, we would be most grateful."

Twilight held the book in her hooves, feeling very excited.

"Solving a thousands-year-old mystery could take forever!" Sunburst gasped before he sounded excited. "Think of the research! The re-reading! The re-re-reading!"

"Yeah, sounds like fun." Drell rolled his eyes.

Sunburst held out his hoof. Drell scoffed and hoof-bumped him back.

"You might find you need help." Princess Celestia advised.

"Luckily she's got plenty of help right here." Atticus said.

"Totally!" Rainbow Dash added. "Uh... How long will all this research take, exactly?"

"Probably not too long." Mo assured.

"Let's get this back to my library," Twilight smiled to her friends. "I'm sure we'll figure out what happened in no time."

"Yeah." Patch nodded.

Everyone else grew excited as they left the throne room.

"Looks like we got our hooves full." Drell said to Patrick.

"Looks like it." Patrick said.

"We better help the kids out a bit," Drell suggested. "This might be intense for them for Star Swirled with Celestia and Luna, I mean, it's like Zelda with Merlin."

"Right." Patrick nodded.

The others soon came to Twilight's library, and Cherry looked weary as she felt like she was back in school now.

Spike yawned as he replaced the old candle with a new one since this took quite a while. "Figure it out yet, Twilight?" He asked with a yawn.

Twilight shook her head with a pencil in her mouth. Atticus began to look like he was about to lose it.

Sunburst asked as he suddenly woke up. "What did you figure out?"

Pinkie Pie gasped with a smile. "You figured something out?" She then licked a cupcake off of her eye and ate it.

"Please tell us that you figured something out." Mo begged. Twilight.

"Nothing," Twilight sighed. "I mean, Star Swirl was a genius, obviously. But forget Olde Ponish. There's parts where his hornwriting is like another language!" she then groaned, feeling troubled in her current situation.

"Twilight, we've been studyin' and referencin' and cross-referencin' for three days straight now." Applejack said, tiredly.

"We've been here for three days?!" Cherry gasped as she sat up in alarm.

"Don't worry, I left your families notes telling them where you'd be." Drell told the others.

"Mom's at the Spa by the way with your sister." Patrick smiled to Atticus.

"I guess that was your idea?" Atticus hid a small knowing smirk.

"Yep." Patrick smirked back.

"Ugh. I haven't spent this much time reading since the last Daring Do book came out." Rainbow Dash groaned and stretched, popping her bones a bit.

"Perhaps it is time to take a break," Rarity suggested. "This mystery is over a thousand years old, after all. Another day or two won't make a difference."

"Rarity's right." Mo said.

Starlight soon came in with some refreshments.

"Two days?! I don't want to waste two seconds!" Twilight replied. "I'm close to an answer. I can feel it."

"Twilight would be amazing with The S.A.T's." Cherry commented.

"She sure would." Atticus said.

They soon followed the others as Twilight came to her chalkboard.

"'Hearg sylfum se Ponhenge'," Starlight read aloud. "What's that?"

Twilight rushed to Starlight's side with wide eyes. "The Temple of Ponhenge?! You can read that?!"

"The hornwriting's pretty sloppy, but it's nowhere near as bad as mine," Starlight smiled bashfully before she went back to reading aloud. "'Toward dol grimlic of Fola Firgenbeorg'?"

Twilight and the others soon turned to Sunburst for translation.

"'At the base of Foal Mountain'..." Sunburst pushed his glasses back within shock.

"'User endemest scield'." Starlight continued to read.

Twilight gasped as she knew what that meant. "'Our last stand'."

"Well, that sure sounds like a clue to me." Spike yawned as he blew out the candle before falling asleep on his pillow.

Sunburst soon brought out another book, flipping it to the page with a picture in it that seemed to coordinate with the journal entry.

"Oh, boy... Field trip!" Cherry cheered before yawning.

"Let's get going." Drell said.

They soon left the library and moved to their next location as it was a bit dark.


	2. Chapter 2

"This is it. Ponhenge. I can't believe it." Twilight smiled to the sight up close.

"We have something like this back home called Stonehenge," Cherry said. "Not as mystical though, but no one knows who created it and why."

Sunburst soon saw some writing before clearing some dust to see unfamiliar runes. "I've never seen magical runes like these before! Have you?" he then commented to Twilight.

"Uh-uh." Twilight shook her head as they explored.

"I don't think anyone's seen these in a long time." Mo said.

"You said it." Rainbow Dash agreed, pulling on a vine with her teeth before being flung into a bush.

Applejack soon helped Rainbow Dash out of the bush. "It'd take a whole team of ponies to clear away all this brush." she then commented.

Fluttershy soon tried to dust off one of the stones only for a piece of it to fall off. "Even then, I'm not sure we'd find out what happened here over a thousand years ago." she then said with a small frown.

"You're right," Twilight sighed out of defeat. "I suppose it was a long shot."

"Cheer up, Twilight; finding ancient ruins is still impressive." Atticus smiled.

"Yeah! Maybe you could write a paper on it!" Spike added.

"I guess I hoped we'd get here and the mystery would just magically be explained." Twilight sighed, putting the book down and walked off in dismay.

The symbols on the cover of the book soon began to glow after it was placed on one of the stones.

"Uh, Twilight?" Spike asked.

Twilight looked over before gasping, backing away slowly.

"Here we go." Drell said.

A hologram of a certain unicorn soon appeared.

Everyone looked in total shock from what they witnessed.

"Star Swirl!? I... I've wanted to meet you my whole life!" Twilight gushed to the unicorn stallion. "I can't believe you're here!"

Sunburst took a closer look and put his hoof on Star Swirl, but it phased through him. "I don't think he is here," he told Twilight before looking with wide eyes behind the lavender Alicorn. "I don't think any of them are."

"Twilight, you might wanna see this." Atticus said.

Everyone soon looked all around as holographic ponies appeared. Star Swirl zapped with his horn what looked like a water well before something big and black with glowing white eyes came out with an evil laugh.

"WHAT THE FUDGESICLE IS THAT?!" Cherry gasped.

"The Pony of Shadows." Drell said.

"You summon me at your peril, Star Swirl!" The Pony of Shadows laughed to the mystical unicorn as the other ponies got ready to fight while the others hid away during the scene. "Once I defeat all of you, this realm will embrace the darkness as I did so long ago!"

Vines soon snapped out and snared the ponies as the dark pony laughed evilly.

Atticus soon saw his dad, only younger, watching this from the same spot he was hiding, hoping to not be seen by the Pony of Shadows. "Dad...?" he muttered to himself.

"Drawing me here will only make me stronger," The Pony of Shadows mocked. "You will never defeat me!"

"We did not come here to defeat you." Star Swirl glared before using his horn to free himself and the others, and where his magic soon made a connection with his journal and the Pillars of Lights' objects.

Atticus soon saw his dad's younger self look sad as he watched this and was about to intervene.

"What are you doing?!" The Pony of Shadows gasped.

"We came... To contain you." Star Swirl replied.

They were all suddenly levitated into the air as the Pony of Shadows screamed. Young Patrick seem to now just step back as he was too late. And where Patrick looked ashamed with how he handled the situation years ago.

"Dad... Is that... Is that...?" Atticus asked.

"Yeah, that's me," Patrick sighed. "You're probably wondering how I got here."

"Yeah, I am, but you can tell me and all of us after this." Atticus said.

There was soon a bright light and all of them vanished in thin air before their items fell to the ground. Upon falling, they seemed to disappear from existence.

"Well, you did ask for a magical explanation." Pinkie Pie smiled to Twilight. 

"Okay, now explain." Atticus told his dad.

"I thought I could help..." Patrick sighed. "I wanted to help out. I mean... I had to do something! I didn't want them to die." 

"Then why didn't you?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"To be honest... I was scared," Patrick frowned. "I didn't really know what I could do. I thought for sure I could help with my own magic, but seeing that Shadow Pony up close scared me a little, and... I just feel like I doomed Star Swirl and everyone!" 

"Do you know who the Pony of Shadows was before he became the Pony of Shadows?" Atticus asked his father.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Patrick nodded. "Stygian. He actually brought the Pillars of Old Equestria together to save the land from a great evil." 

"He did?" Patch asked.

"He was a very good friend of mine..." Patrick smiled before frowning again. "Probably my best friend in the world. However, Stygian soon became jealous of the Pillars' power and glory, and he stole artifacts from them in a quest for power, resulting in his exile." 

"So then to keep him from spreading darkness--" Mo started with a frown.

"The Pillars sealed him in Limbo along with themselves." Patrick concluded with a frown back.

The next day...

Cherry was still asleep.

"Come on, Cherry, time to wake up." Atticus said.

Cherry threw her pillow at his face. 

"Don't make me bring out the water bucket." Atticus told her.

"You're not that cruel." Cherry mumbled sleepily. 

Atticus soon proved her wrong.

"Aaaugh!" Cherry yelped as she shivered, fallen to the floor.

"Good... Now that you see it my way... Let's go..." Atticus smirked.

Cherry rolled her eyes from that. "You are cruel." She groaned to her best friend.

Atticus soon walked off.

Cherry soon tried to stand up, but kept slipping on her hooves, having a hard time keeping her balance, falling back into bed. "Oof... This morning is not starting out well..." she then mumbled. "Could it get any worse?"

"WAKE UP, CHERRY!" Pinkie Pie called out as she soon went to tackle Cherry awake.

"There it is." Cherry said with wide eyes.

Meanwhile with Starlight and Sunburst...

"It's amazing to think one of the greatest mysteries of Equestria was solved with a musty old book from an antique shop." Starlight said to her old friend.

"But I wouldn't say the mystery's solved," Sunburst replied before opening the door for them. "Star Swirl's spell was one of the most powerful feats of magic in all of history. It'll take years of study before we fully understand it." 

"I think I understand Star Swirl's spell!" Twilight beamed from a pile of books.

Starlight and Sunburst then looked to each other. They met in the room with the table as Twilight shared her discovery.

"I know I've finished one of Star Swirl's spells before, but this one was on a whole different level! Was it an explosion of magical feedback? An evocation? A kind of incantation?" Twilight told the others as she sounded a bit hyperactive. "It's Star Swirl, so the possibilities are endless! And once Starlight set me on the right track with his crazy hornwriting," she then laughed with a snort. "I mean, he was a genius, so I guess we can forgive a little messiness – I went through the journal again, and it's amazing!" 

"Um, okay?" Patch blinked.

"Twilight, darling..." Rarity said slowly and calmly. "We understand you're excited, but that's all we understand."

"What exactly is so amazing?" Rainbow Dash added.

"Only how Star Swirl and the other Pillars sent the Pony of Shadows to Limbo!" Twilight gushed. 

"You mean the one place where people or in this case ponies are sent to after death when they have unfinished business?" Mo asked.

"The very same." Twilight nodded.

"Too bad it can't be like the Limbo in the Supernatural Realm," Cherry muttered. "That place is so chill." 

"But how did he do it?" Mo asked, referring to Star Swirl the Bearded.

Twilight took out a model to diorama. "They used their magic to open a portal between worlds – to Limbo – and pulled the Pony of Shadows inside." she then said simply before the diorama exploded.

"Darling, your diorama!" Rarity gasped.

"I made more!" Twilight smiled, showing a pile of a bunch of copies on the table next to them. 

"Of course she did." Drell smirked.

"Star Swirl thought the only way to trap the Pony of Shadows in Limbo was for the Pillars to take him there." Twilight then continued.

"So they got stuck, too!" Applejack's eyes widened.

"The Pony of Shadows must have been really awful for them to do that." Fluttershy shivered out of fear. 

"He was." Patrick said.

"I suppose being trapped for all time with a super-duper bad guy in Limbo might be okay if you were doing the Limbo, but that's still pushing it." Pinkie Pie commented. 

"Too true." Drell said.

"I just feel so bad... I just wanted my friend back." Patrick frowned about losing Stygian.

"It's okay, I understand." Atticus told his father.

Patrick wiped a tear from his eye. Atticus gently patted his father's hoof in comfort.

"If only there was someway to bring them back." Mo said.

"Well, actually, the thing is, I think I can get them out." Twilight stated.

"Ooh..." Patch smiled. "How?"

"Twilight, are you serious?" Sunburst asked out of shock. "You can save the most legendary ponies of all time?"

"I-I don't know," Starlight shook her head. "Opening portals between worlds didn't work out well for me. Are you sure it's safe?" she then asked, cautiously.

"First of all, you opened portals through time," Twilight reminded her. "And second of all, Star Swirl wrote the spell you used to do it. If he'd been here, he could have stopped it."

Starlight soon looked sad.

"But it's thanks to Star Swirl's spell that you understood why she was against cutie marks in the first place." Atticus told Twilight.

"Exactly," Twilight replied. "Equestria would be safer with him in it. We have to save him."

"But you'd be savin' all the Pillars, right?" Applejack replied. "A-And they disappeared ages ago."

"That's the thing about Limbo. It isn't one place or another. It's in between, so time stands still," Twilight clarified with a small smile. "If we can pull them out, it'll be like they never left. I actually built another model to demonstrate--"

"Ugh!" Rainbow Dash complained as she banged her head on the friendship map.

"What can we do to help?" Spike asked Twilight.

"If I'm right, we need to find items that are connected to the Pillars in some way." Twilight replied.

"And if Patrick and I know Star Swirl, he wrote then down." Drell said.

"Yep! He took a lot of notes!" Twilight smiled. "'My compatriots are as varied as the realm itself and hail from every corner of our land, bringing with them artifacts and talismans of great power'." she then began to read aloud.

"Uh, Twilight?" Patrick spoke up as he saw something happening above them.

Twilight soon paused, looking up and gasping at what she saw.

"Twilight, what're you doing?" Cherry asked.

"I'm not doing anything!" Twilight yelped.

They soon saw the items come out, almost like her and the others' Elements of Harmony.

"It must be the Tree of Harmony." Drell said.

They all soon took a look at the artifacts.

"Rockhoof's shovel!" Applejack gasped.

"Flash Magnus' shield!" Rainbow Dash added.

"Mistmane's flower!" Rarity added.

"Meadowbrook's mask!" Fluttershy added.

"And the blindfold Somnambula wore when she faced that nasty Sphinx!" Pinkie Pie concluded.

"Looks like it's not hard to guess who should go where, but each of you to bring someone/somepony along." Drell told the others.

"We're splitting up then?" Cherry asked.

"Yes," Drell nodded. "And I think Applejack should bring her boyfriend/coltfriend along."

"Uh, who?" Applejack blushed.

"I think you know who I'm talking about, Applejack." Drell smirked to the country mare.


	3. Chapter 3

Later on, Clark was soon included in the group.

"All right, so Applejack goes with Clark..." Drell began to list. "Mo will go with Rarity... Rainbow Dash will go with Spike... Cherry will go with Pinkie Pie..."

"Great." Cherry said.

"I thought it might interest you." Drell said.

"To go Cherry-nanas?!" Cherry replied.

"To find Egyptian-like artifacts." Drell explained.

"Ohhh... Clever..." Cherry admitted.

The group soon split up.

Applejack and Clark soon walked off together.

"Granny Smith makes the best pie I've ever tasted!" Clark smiled to Applejack.

"Yup," Applejack smiled back. "Granny Smith is a whiz when it comes to pie."

Sometime later, they were soon at where Rockhoof used to live.

"Looks like an archaeological dig." Clark commented.

"Professor! It's a Mighty Helm headpiece!" A filly beamed as she uncovered something. "Maybe it belonged to Rockhoof himself!"

"Legends don't wear helmets," The mare smirked smugly. "This belonged to a real pony."

"Oh, he was real." Clark said.

Everyone soon turned to see their two visitors.

"And I suppose that ravine was dug with his trusty shovel to save the village from an erupting volcano." The professor chuckled.

"Probably." Applejack replied.

'And here comes the non-believer reaction.' Clark thought to himself.

"I love old legends as much as anypony, but a pony strong enough to save a village from rushing lava with a shovel is preposterous." The professor smiled humbly.

A pony cracked against a rock, shattering which sent out a rolling boulder, and where it would have crushed the professor and filly and colt, but luckily Clark stopped the boulder and sent it flying away.

"Good work, Clark." Applejack smiled.

"Aw, you would've done the same for me." Clark smiled back.

"I can't believe you just did that," The professor said to Clark. "Y-You saved us!"

"I bet if you told somepony else this story, they'd probably think it was..." Clark started before gasping a bit before acting like the professor. "Preposterous."

Applejack couldn't help but chuckle to that. A stallion came to them and soon showed a room right behind them, and inside, they found the shovel they were looking for.

"I suppose some stories might be true," The professor remarked as Applejack and Clark collected the shovel. "And Rockhoof's appears to be one of them."

The shovel soon glowed after it was collected.

Meanwhile with Rarity and Mo...

Rarity opened the door with her horn as she walked inside with Mo before reaching out to a flower she spotted only to have her hoof slapped. "Ow!"

"You keep those hooves to yourself, dearies!" An elderly unicorn mare glared towards the girls as she came to see them. "This place has been in my family for generations, and I'm not about to let some whippersnappers take the last good piece of it! Time was, ponies came from far and wide to see these gardens, but that flower's the only worthwhile thing left!"

"Hmm... You thinking what I'm thinking, Rarity?" Mo asked the fashionista unicorn.

"Hmm... I believe so, darling," Rarity replied. "Do you like gardening?"

"Oh, I love gardening." Mo smiled.

"Let's do this then." Rarity smiled back.

The two then worked together, sprucing up the garden a bit for the elderly mare. The mare looked around in total shock, not expecting that to happen.

"Perhaps it just seemed like your gardens were worthless, but a little pruning can work wonders," Rarity said to the elderly mare. "Of course you will have to look after more than just one flower now."

Mo soon wiped off some sweat from their work.

"You've given me back my family's legacy," The elderly mare smiled tearfully to them before she soon handed them the flower they had come for. "The flower you wanted seems like a fair trade for that."

The flower soon glowed after Mo and Rarity accepted it.

Rainbow Dash, Patch, and Spike were soon coming to see the dragons who were all pretty much a bunch of jerks.

"I can't believe Flash Magnus' shield ended up in the Dragon Lands." Rainbow Dash groaned slightly on the way.

"I know, but the map showed us that it's here." Patch said.

"Good thing you brought the official Equestrian Friendship Ambassador to the Dragons to help you navigate our customs," Spike beamed a bit. "Like our favorite sport: gorge surfing!"

They soon looked down and saw some dragons by a flow of lava.

"Okay!" Rainbow Dash smiled as she landed with Spike. "That. Was. Awesome!"

The other dragons soon saw Rainbow Dash, a bit in horror since she was a pony.

"Dragon Lord Ember commanded us to make peace with ponies, but it doesn't mean you can surf in our spot." One of the dragons scoffed.

"We're not here to surf, we're here looking for a shield." Patch told them.

"Let me handle this, Patch," Spike told him before approaching his fellow species with a smug smirk. "As the Official Equestrian Friendship Ambassador to the Dragons, I have to say that's not very friendly."

"Well, what do you know?" Another one of the dragons scoffed as he approached the smaller dragon, carrying said shield. "The puny pony-dragon's sticking up for his pony pals."

"That's the shield we're looking for." Patch told the dragon.

"Hooves off my gorge board!" The dragon huffed to them. "I found it in the desert, and finders keepers."

"It isn't yours!" Rainbow Dash told him.

"Huh. It sure looks like mine," The dragon smirked as he held onto the shield. "But I might consider racing you for it."

"Sounds fair." Patch said.

"No problem." Rainbow Dash smirked.

"Um... No. I mean you..." The dragon grinned to Spike.

"Oh..." Patch said with wide eyes.

Spike chuckled and sweated nervously.

"I didn't really like these guys in Dragon Quest." Patch mumbled to himself.

As they were about to start, Spike gulped nervously. The other dragons began to jeer out of excitement for the competition between Spike and Garble. Garble blew a raspberry at Spike who looked nearly scared to death. 

"On your marks... Get set... SURF!" A dragon told them in flight before proclaiming with fiery breath. 

"You can win, Spike!" Patch cheered.

The two dragons soon began their race once they were allowed off. Spike stumbled a bit and looked worried as he came down after Garble who surfed with ease. Patch kept a calm face as he had faith in Spike. Spike soon slide up off of some rocks and ended up tumbling ahead of Garble and landed on the finish line. Garble looked quite annoyed with losing to Spike.

"I won? I won! Woo-hoo!" Spike beamed which made Patch smile for him. "Give up the shield, Garble!"

"Lord Ember only commanded us to be nice to ponies," Garble scowled, coming towards Spike, menacingly. "She never said anything about pony-loving dragons."

"Hand over the shield, Garble." Patch said firmly as his medallion teleported himself in front of Spike.

Garble glared down to Patch.

Patch snarled to the dragon, glaring back without fear. "Dragon Lord Ember commanded you to make peace with ponies, you should leave their friends be, such as Spike!" he then demanded. 

"Um, please?" Spike added with a nervous smile.

"I guess we'll find out!" Garble grinned, picking up a rock to throw at and crush Spike with.

Rainbow Dash soon zipped over, moving the rock and it soon landed flat on Garble's tail.

"Nice one." Patch smiled at Rainbow Dash.

"Thanks." Rainbow Dash smiled back to him.

"Ugh. Why is he always hiding behind ponies?" Garble complained.

"I wasn't hiding when I beat you down the ridge." Spike replied.

"You fell!" Garble glared. 

"Wow. Sore loser much?" Patch smirked.

"You must be slow if all Spike had to do to win was fall down." Rainbow Dash added.

"I'm faster than you." Garble challenged. 

"Oh, really?" Patch smirked.

"Fine. I'm pretty sure I could beat you anyway," Rainbow Dash smirked to Garble. "But with that heavy hunk of metal on your back, it'll be a snap."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Thanks for the tip," Garble smirked before dropping the shield onto the ground and flew off eagerly. "See ya at the top, loser!" 

Patch smirked at how easy it was to trick Garble. Garble laughed as it looked like he had won... Only for another dragon to point to him to show that Rainbow Dash, Patch, and Spike flew away with the shield in hoof.

"Thanks for the shield." Patch smirked at Garble.

"Hey! That's mine!" Garble called out.

"Finders keepers, remember?" Spike called back.

"And that means it's ours now!" Patch added.

"See, because that's what you said to them when they first showed up--" One of the dragons said to Garble only to get shoved down by him.

"That was easy." Patch smirked.

Fluttershy and Patrick were soon coming to working together as a stallion had some trouble with a swarm of insects called 'flash bees'. Luckily, Patrick knew just what to do. 

"We have to help him." Fluttershy said.

"Yes, yes, I know," Patrick replied. "Luckily, I know what to do with flash bees."

"Me too." Fluttershy said.

They soon went and and helped the stallion.

"Sir?" Patrick called.

"Name's Cattail." The stallion replied.

"Allow us to help you out." Patrick gave a small smile.

Cattail soon recognized Fluttershy. "You..." he said.

"Uh, Fluttershy, you know this pony?" Patrick asked.

Fluttershy soon explained how she knew Cattail. Cattail nodded as that was true.

"Poor Zecora..." Patrick said. "Anyway... As we were."

Cattail soon wore a mask and was using it to divert the flash bees with, following Patrick and Fluttershy's instructions, and while the flash bees were distracted, Patrick and Fluttershy handled the animals that would have been hurt.

"Just remember not to turn away from them, Cattail," Fluttershy advised before looking to the sad animals who looked frightened of the insects. "Flash bees can get pretty aggressive. I guess that's why none of the other bayou animals can get to the water."

"They must have been so scared." Patrick said.

"Wouldn't it make more sense for one of you to wear the mask that calms the bees?" Cattail asked as he kept moving the flash bees.

"It would... If I didn't have to fly up here to move their hive," Fluttershy said before she soon did just that and then finished with a smile. "There!"

Patrick soon gave Cattail the signal to jump into the swamp grass so the flash bees would fly back into their hive. Cattail soon did just that and the flash bees soon went back into their home.

"Now the other bayou creatures can get to the water without the bees feeling threatened." Fluttershy smiled, pulling back the bushes to let the animals go back into the water.

"And thank goodness for that." Patrick smiled back.

"You know, you didn't have to help with this," Cattail smiled to Patrick and Fluttershy, handing over the mask. "I would've lent you the mask anyway."

"I know," Fluttershy giggled, accepting the mask. "But I couldn't leave without helping."

"Besides, it's what Meadowbrook would have done with some help." Patrick smiled.

The mask soon glowed once Patrick and Fluttershy took it.

Pinkie Pie and Cherry soon came into an Equestrian pyramid, and there was a certain pony there with visitors beside her.

"I don't think anypony can find anything in there." A pony said, standing beside... Daring Do!

"I wouldn't give up hope just yet." The pegasus smiled as she worked with her group. Her pump was soon pulled down before Cherry caught it.

The drain was cleaned up as the gooey muck of the pool came into it, bringing out Cherry and Pinkie Pie in deep sea diver suits. 

"This old blindfold was stuck in the drain." Pinkie Pie said, taking out the blindfold.

"Weren't you looking for a blindfold?" Daring Do asked the earth pony.

"Oh, yeah!" Pinkie Pie smiled, coming out of the suit to collect the blindfold.

The blindfold soon glowed.

"Ugh..." Cherry groaned from the slime. "Did we really have to go through there, Pinkie Pie?"

"Sure!" Pinkie Pie beamed, pulling Cherry into a hug.

"Great." Cherry groaned.

Meanwhile with Atticus, Twilight, Sunburst, Starlight, and Drell...

"I can't believe I'm gonna meet Star Swirl the Bearded!" Twilight beamed. "You know, outside of my dreams."

"Of course." Atticus smiled.

"I can't believe you're actually going through with it." Starlight remarked to Twilight.

"Same here." Drell added.

"What do you guys mean?" Atticus asked.

"I'm all for pushing the envelope, obviously, but this is pretty out there for you, Twilight." Starlight explained.

"It kinda is." Drell added.

"What's 'out there' about saving the most legendary ponies of all time from a thousands-year-old prison?" Sunburst asked them.

"Oh, sure as well as bringing back something dangerous." Drell muttered.

"I think The Most Legendary Ponies of All Time knew what they were doing, and we shouldn't mess with it." Starlight suggested, sounding nervous.

"I agree." Drell said.

"Aw, come on, Drell," Atticus smiled. "Star Swirl and the Pillars did the best they could back then, but magic has come a long way."

"Because of the work they did." Sunburst added in agreement.

"That's true," Starlight admitted as she looked to Twilight. "And you did get your wings from finishing one of Star Swirl's spells."

"That's true." Drell nodded.

Twilight smiled to one of her wings. "Exactly."

"But then I messed with one and nearly destroyed the universe, so--" Starlight soon continued.

"Starlight, Star Swirl the Bearded is the greatest wizard who ever lived," Twilight told her as she tried to read with Sunburst and Atticus. "The chance to have him back in Equestria is worth the risk."

"Oh, there will be a risk alright." Drell muttered.

"Drell, I think we know what we're doing." Atticus rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"That's good news." Spike's voice said as he was soon coming in with Rainbow Dash and Patch.

"Otherwise, we'd have brought this shield for nothing." Rainbow Dash added.

"I hope you're not thinking you're the only one that found an artifact." Clark's voice said as he and Applejack were seen with Rockhoof's shovel.

"Because this here shovel says otherwise." Applejack added as she set the shovel down with her coltfriend.

"Honestly, you guys," Rarity chuckled as she appeared with Mo and the flower. "Not everything is a competition, but Mistmane's flower is by far the most attractive of the artifacts."

"I have to agree." Mo nodded.

"You're just saying that because you didn't have to scuba dive in a pit of green slime to get yours!" Pinkie Pie smiled, taking out the blindfold.

"Yeah... You guys are the lucky ones..." Cherry said.

"At least you didn't have to move the flash bees' hive." Patrick chuckled.

"Good work, everyone," Twilight smiled out of determination. "Let's do this!"

"Yeah, time to bring back Star Swirl and the Pillars." Atticus nodded.

Drell just shook his head to this. Sunburst, Twilight, and Starlight soon charged their horns' magic against the pillars. Atticus soon joined his horn with theirs.

"I'm still not sure about this." Drell said.

"You sound worried." Cherry commented, feeling weird saying that about him.

'I hope this works.' Patrick thought to himself.

Eventually, the book glowed after the others used their horns with their Equestrian magic. A shape soon glowed all around them, much to Atticus, Twilight, and Sunburst's excitement, and the items spun around before a bright light emerged and ancient ponies soon appeared, falling with rocks all around.

"Incoming!" Patch called out.

Everyone soon moved the ponies away from the falling rocks so they wouldn't get crushed.

"What... What has happened?" Star Swirl groaned as he got up off of the ground.

"It worked!" Twilight beamed. "We brought you back!"

"To where?" Star Swirl asked as he rubbed his left eye.

"You and the others have been trapped in limbo for over a thousand years, but we figured out how to get you ho--" Atticus smiled to the mystical and ancient one.

"What?!" Star Swirl's eyes widened. "No, no, no, no! You must undo what you've done!"

"What? Why?" Atticus asked. "I mean I don't think me and Twilight can."

"You cannot bring us back!" Star Swirl told them as he walked right up to them.

"But we did!" Twilight backed up with Atticus. "We brought all the Pillars back!"

"You cannot bring only the Pillars back!" Star Swirl told them.

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed as an evil laugh had come out which only meant one thing.

"This is what I was trying to tell you!" Drell told Atticus, Sunburst, and Twilight. "When you bring back Star Swirl and the others back, you also bring back the Pony of Shadows!" 

The laughter got louder and stronger, and soon, the Pony of Shadows appeared before them. 

"Oh, no!" Atticus and Twilight soon whimpered.

"Way to go, you two." Drell glared at Atticus and Twilight.

Atticus and Twilight soon both looked fearful towards each other.


	4. Chapter 4

"Your pitiful attempt to imprison me has failed, Star Swirl!" The Pony of Shadows laughed wickedly.

"This is bad." Patch said.

Star Swirl soon began to try and use his magic against the Pony of Shadows, but nothing seemed to happen. " You must return us to Limbo," he then told Atticus and Twilight. "It's the only way to stop him."

"We only figured out how to bring you back." Atticus and Twilight told him.

Drell began to growl from that.

"Uh, I'll look for a way for you!" Cherry said nervously as she ran towards the book, frantically going through the pages, but was scared now for two reasons. "No table of contents!"

"Allow me to assist," The Pony of Shadows smirked before destroying the book and Ponhenge. "Without the power of Ponhenge, your banishing spell is useless."

"Gah!" Cherry yelped from that.

"You have studied my writings," Star Swirl said to Twilight. "Surely you have some other plan."

"No. I just wanted to save you," Twilight frowned. "I didn't think--"

"Don't fret. When I extinguish the light and hope of this miserable world, you won't remember any of this." The Pony of Shadows smirked before charging up his own horn.

"That won't happen!" Patrick told the Pony of Shadows.

The Pony of Shadows soon zapped his horn until Atticus and Twilight shot back with their own horn magic. "Argh!" He grunted from that before glaring slightly. "These ones are almost as... Strong as you, Star Swirl. But even in my weakened state, they cannot stop the might of shadows!"

"They're not alone." Patch growled at the Pony of Shadows.

Starlight soon joined in, using her own magic. The Pony of Shadows seemed to yell out as Starlight helped out Atticus and Twilight.

"Give up, you're outnumbered!" Patch told the Pony of Shadows.

"Know this, fiend!" Star Swirl added as the others surrounded him. "We will not rest until we find a way to return you to Limbo!"

"Never!" The Pony of Shadows growled. "Your days of glory are through, Star Swirl. Now my dark power will reign, and you six will bow to me!" he soon hopped up and vanished before their eyes.

"What just happened?" Mo asked.

"Uh, where'd he go?" Rainbow Dash added.

"That is a riddle we must unravel," Somnambula replied. "And quickly."

"How long have we been gone?" Meadowbrook asked Fluttershy.

"Over a thousand years." Fluttershy answered.

The ancient ponies looked shocked to hear about being gone that long.

"Then my spell worked, before it was meddled with," Star Swirl replied before glaring to Atticus and Twilight slightly. "And the realm has been at peace for a millennia!"

"Not exactly, old timer." Drell told Star Swirl.

"Heh... Drell just called someone old, and he's like hundreds of years old." Cherry chuckled to herself. 

"What's your point?!" Drell glared slightly.

"Erm... Uh... You don't look a day over 360?" Cherry grinned nervously.

Drell simply rolled his eyes at that. Cherry still looked nervous to him.

"Weeeeell... We did have to save everypony from Nightmare Moon and Discord and Chrysalis and King Sombra and Lord Tirek, and there was that one time when Starlight traveled through time and almost destroyed life as we know it! But that's all in the past." Pinkie Pie said to Star Swirl.

Drell nodded in agreement.

"It is an easy thing to say you have saved the world," Star Swirl clarified sharply. "It is quite another to do it."

"Oh, they've done it." Drell smirked.

"Oh, we've saved the world, Beardo," Rainbow Dash told Star Swirl. "And we can do it again."

"Be that as it may, the problem of locating the Pony of Shadows remains, and this land is vast." Star Swirl replied.

"It sounds like you need a map," Rarity suggested. "Luckily, we have just the thing."

"And it's back at Twilight's castle." Mo smiled.

"But before that; can you tell us if you recognize these two?" Patch asked Star Swirl and the other ancient ponies as he gestured to Patrick and Drell.

Star Swirl and the ancient ponies came to see Patrick and Drell up close.

"Patrick Fudo and Drell Batsworth?" Star Swirl soon asked out of shock.

"About time to recognized us, S.S." Drell smirked.

"It's been so long..." Star Swirl replied.

"Oh, it sure has," Patrick smiled. "It's good to see you again though."

"We hardly recognized you." Flash Magnus smirked at Patrick.

"A lot's changed over the years," Patrick chuckled. "I'm also a bit stronger now."

"Hope that means your magic is strong too." Flash Magnus smirked, ruffling up his mane.

"It sure does." Patrick smirked back before getting grabbed into a headlock before a noogie by Rockhoof.

"Hey, buddy!" Rockhoof laughed.

Patrick laughed back. Atticus gave a small smile for his father as it looked like he was having fun.

After a friendly reunion, they were soon at Twilight's castle. 

"Something about this magic seems familiar..." Star Swirl pondered as he looked at the map before using his horn's magic to summon the Tree of Harmony.

Everyone gasped in astonishment and amazement.

"Did you know he can do that?" Rarity asked Atticus and Twilight.

"He's Star Swirl, of course he can." Atticus smiled.

"He can do anything!" Twilight added.

"This map, and indeed this very castle, are grown from the seed we planted over a thousand years ago." Star Swirl informed.

"Then it did work!" Rockhoof smiled.

"What worked?" Sunburst asked.

"Each of us infused a crystal seed with our magic in hopes that it would grow into a force for good." Somnambula replied.

"We wanted to leave something to protect the realm in our absence, but we never dreamed our gift would become so powerful." Mistmane added.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up, you mean the Elements of Harmony came from you six?" Patch asked the ancient ponies.

The ponies looked to each other from that question before facing Star Swirl.

"You know, the sparkly crystal things that grow from the Tree of Harmony and represent each of us?" Pinkie Pie prompted, coming beside all of her friends. "Laughter, honesty, generosity, loyalty, kindness, and magic! Also bravery from Mo, strength from Atticus, support from Patch, and empathy from Cherry!"

"Yeah, surprisingly, these four were able to create new Elements of Harmony, and the same is said for two others in another world." Drell said.

"They are reflections of our own elements of hope, strength, beauty, bravery, healing, and sorcery." Somnambula gave a small smile to the others, pointing to each of her fellow Pillar Ponies.

"We had no idea our small seed would bloom into the living spirit of the land," Meadowbrook smiled around. "I am glad our mantles have passed to such capable ponies."

"More importantly, we no longer need Ponhenge to send our foe back to Limbo," Star Swirl replied. "We can use the stored magic in this Tree of Harmony."

"But doesn't a banishing spell take a lot of magic? We'd be sacrificing the Elements of Harmony for that." Atticus frowned.

"Mm-hmm." Star Swirl nodded.

"They'd be gone forever?" Fluttershy asked with a frown.

"Star Swirl, I don't think the Tree of Harmony can survive without the Elements," Twilight frowned. "If the tree dies, Equestria will suffer."

"If the Pony of Shadows has his way, your land will not exist," Star Swirl sharply told Twilight. "So unless you have a better idea..." he then used his magic, making the image of the Tree of Harmony disappear, and they soon saw black spots on the map. "Our foe will seek dark places from which to draw power. I will prepare my spell so that we may strike as soon as you find him."

"What are we waiting for?" Rainbow Dash asked as she smirked in determination.

"I like your spirit!" Flash Magnus smirked to Rainbow Dash's determination.

The rest of the girls soon agreed with getting started. Twilight and Atticus soon walked off, bowing their heads together, leaving the room. Cherry and Starlight noticed this before following after them.

They were soon shown in the messy library.

"What about this one?" Spike asked, showing them a book he picked out.

Twilight soon hovered it over before sighing. "Seapony Etiquette isn't going to help right now, Spike." she told him before checking out a list.

"There has to be something here that can help us in the situation we're in." Atticus said as checked out a second list.

"Hey you two okay?" Cherry asked Atticus and Twilight as she and Starlight walked in.

"Atticus and I just unleashed ultimate evil and doomed Equestria because I was obsessed with meeting my idol!" Twilight replied hysterically. "Why wouldn't I be okay?!" she then hit her head on the table.

Starlight let out a small scoff. "You didn't know that was gonna happen."

"But Drell did and he tried to tell us, but we wouldn't listen." Atticus frowned.

"Yeah, you didn't." Cherry replied bluntly.

Starlight nudged her for that.

"What?" Cherry asked.

"We should've listened to Drell and left things alone," Twilight sulked. "Now the Elements of Harmony will be lost to fix our mistake!"

"Unless we can find another solution to our situation." Atticus said.

"I'm sure you guys can find it." Cherry supported.

Twilight soon took a book with Atticus. "Portal gate... Portal keys... Portal spells... Yes!" she then beamed at what she found. "'If the Pillars can hold open the gateway to Limbo, a powerful pony can do the banishing spell herself'! Do you know what this means?"

"I don't have to carry any more books?" Spike guessed.

"The Pillars don't have to leave!" Atticus beamed.

"Oh?" Cherry replied.

"Even though we'll lose the Elements, we'll have the ponies that created them." Twilight continued.

"And the Pony of Shadows will be banished for good!" Atticus added. 

"Uh..." Cherry blinked. "That's great, I think, but what about something that doesn't include banishing?"

"If you are truly this accomplished, we will stop the Pony of Shadows twice as fast together." Flash Magnus proclaimed. 

"We shall see." Star Swirl told them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Drell glared.

"I think Cherry might have a good idea." Starlight grinned nervously.

"Star Swirl knew what he was doing when he cast that spell,' Twilight replied. "If we can make it even better, maybe he'll see that we take magic as seriously as he does."

"Yeah, but remember of how you both were able to complete two spells that didn't involve doing something as crazy as banishing a pony?" Cherry said.

"Aw, Cherry, you worry too much." Atticus said, patting her on the head.

Cherry gave him a look for that. Atticus soon realized what he was doing.

"Atticus, listen to me, this is might be a bad idea." Cherry said to her best friend. 

Atticus looked to his best friend before looking to Twilight and then back at his best friend before agreeing that what they were going to do was a bad idea.

"This plan already wreaks of failure," Cherry warned. "Okay?" 

"Okay, let's go and talk with Dad and the Pillars to see if we can find out more about you-know-who." Atticus said.

"Hmm... I suppose that's fair," Twilight replied. "Your father is a bit mystical and smart. A lot like you."

"Yeah, even has the same sized head." Cherry smirked.

Atticus gave a deadpan glance from that.

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week." Cherry chuckled to herself with a bow. 

Atticus simply rolled his eyes playfully.

Meanwhile with the Pillars and the rest of the Mane Six...

Drell soon joined the others with a bit of an annoyed look on his face.

"It seems the dark places Star Swirl indicated on the map have changed." Rockhoof said as they came by the busy streets of the city.

"Ah bet the Pony of Shadows would've loved the Ghastly Caverns before a thousand years of erosion turned it into the Ghastly Gorge." Applejack replied. 

"Oh, yes, he would." Drell said.

"The Appeloosian Wastes sure sounded dark and desolate." Fluttershy said, looking at the map.

"Who knew they would become such a popular square dancing destination?" Rarity commented. 

"How about you, Pinkie Pie?" Patch asked.

"Well, I get how this part of Equestria used to be cast in eternal night where the Pony of Shadows could draw power and wreak havoc while ponies were powerless to stop him," Pinkie Pie smiled out of excitement before she soon appeared on three screens with flashing lights like in Time Square of New York City. "But it's kinda made a comeback! Did I mention it's really bright?!" 

"Well, we can cross out this place off the map." Drell said.

They soon did just that. Star Swirl took a look at the map before looking to the others. "It seems there are fewer dark corners in the realm these days."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"True. The Pony of Shadows will have a hard time regaining power," Flash Magnus nodded. "When he rears his head, we'll be ready!"

Rainbow Dash and Flash Magnus soon clonked their mugs together.

"I wish there was a way that we could banish the Pony of Shadows without losing any of you." Mo frowned, referring to the Pillars.

"Oh, I wish there were," Meadowbrook smiled softly before frowning back. "But to save our home, we are willin' to leave it." 

"There has to be a way." Drell said.

"Oh, yeah," Cherry rolled her eyes, walking to the doors. "As if the answer's gonna come waltzing right through that--"

"You don't have to! My spell isn't ready yet, but I think I found a way to send the Pony of Shadows to Limbo without all of you going as well!" Twilight beamed to the ancient ponies as she showed her spell to Star Swirl.

Cherry groaned as she was too close to the doors. Mo soon took Cherry and tried to straighten her out a bit.

"While I appreciate your enthusiasm, children, this is hardly the time to take risks on half-baked spells." Star Swirl told Atticus and Twilight, a bit haughtily. 

"Half-baked?!" Patrick and Drell glared.

Cherry soon pushed her glasses back before looking over. Atticus and Twilight began to look a bit unhappy with what Star Swirl told them.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bearded Pony, but Atticus doesn't do anything halfway and neither does Twilight!" Cherry soon glared. 

"True that!" Applejack nodded.

"Especially not magic!" Pinkie Pie added.

"Seriously!" Rainbow Dash glared, taking one of Twilight's wings. "She got her wings by finishing one of your spells!" 

"Yep." Drell nodded.

"I think you'll find her work is worth reading before you dismiss it out of hoof!" Rarity added.

"Mm-hmm!" Fluttershy nodded firmly.

"While it is an unconventional approach, I believe it could work." Meadowbrook smiled. 

"Oh, you bet it could." Drell nodded.

Star Swirl soon took a look at the paper that Atticus and Twilight brought in. "Hmm... I suppose there is a chance." he soon said.

"But we still have no idea where to find the villain." Sunburst replied. 

"Hmm... That's true." Drell nodded.

Suddenly, everyone's cutie marks seemed to flash before landing on a place on the map.

"Maybe we should try there?" Spike suggested, pointing out to the landmark. 

"So freaky." Patrick said.

"What is this place?" Clark asked.

"The Hollow Shades," Applejack remarked as she took a look. "Ah think a branch of the Apple family lives there." 

"I highly doubt that anyone's lived there in years." Drell said.

"Then that's where Stygian must be." Patrick said.

Drell looked over to Patrick. Patrick looked a little sad and bowed his head as he mentioned Stygian.

"Aw, Patrick.... It's okay." Drell told him. 

Atticus could already tell that his father was still feeling ashamed of how he handled himself in the past against the Pony of Shadows.

"Hmm... That's odd. The only time the map's called all of us to one place was Starlight's village." Rarity commented.

"So it's like a super-villain tracker!" Rainbow Dash added before looking sheepish to Starlight. "No offense."

Starlight gave a rather unimpressed expression from that. 

"What do you think, Star Swirl?" Drell asked.

"Do you think the map could be trying to tell us where the Pony of Shadows is?" Twilight added.

"Hmm... The Tree of Harmony acting to protect the light of the realm..." Star Swirl paused in thought at first. "Yes. A good thought, Twilight."

Twilight let out a fan girl squeal from that.

'Oh, Twilight.' Patrick thought to himself.

"I will make my notes on this spell," Star Swirl told them all. "Ready yourselves for battle." 

"We will." Drell nodded.

"Uh, I know I'm not as experienced as all of you, but is banishment really the only option?" Starlight soon asked. "I mean, it's been a long time. Maybe the Pony of Shadows is ready to talk?"

"I doubt we can save our homeland with a conversation." Star Swirl said. 

"But we could try." Cherry said.

"Cherry, I'm sure Star Swirl and the others did try." Twilight told the perky goth.

"The Pony of Shadows was not interested in reconciliation," Star Swirl shook his head. "Once a villain, always a villain. Atticus, Twilight, Sunburst, would you accompany me? I wish to refine this spell for our use."

Atticus didn't move from his spot after what Star Swirl said about a villain always a villain.

"Come. We must prepare for the struggle ahead." Rockhoof proclaimed. 

"Right." Drell nodded.

Cherry and Starlight looked to each other.

"Atticus!" Star Swirl called. 

"Uh-oh, I don't like that look in his eyes." Drell gulped as he saw the expression on Atticus's face.

"Patrick, get your boy!" Star Swirl demanded.

"Um... Atticus... You okay?" Cherry smiled nervously, coming up to him. 

"'Once a villain always a villain.' If that's true, then he is dead wrong." Atticus glared.

"Uh, okay, let's not get too angry now..." Cherry said nervously. 

"I'm not going to help with the spell." Atticus told her.

"Okay, you don't have to..." Cherry said to him. "Uh, right, Star Swirl?"

Star Swirl looked unpleased that Atticus wouldn't join him and the others. 

"You're wrong," Atticus told him. "Starlight was a villain once, but she reformed and I turned evil more than once, but not because I chose to turn evil, but because of a potion and overdoses of magic and King Sombra using his magic turning me evil. And if it hadn't been for my friends, I would have still been evil and quite possibly help him take the Crystal Empire throne."

Star Swirl merely gave Atticus a look, narrowing his eyes at him. 

"I'm sorry, but I won't help you banish Stygian." Atticus told the ancient male unicorn.

"Have it your way!" Star Swirl replied. "Twilight? Sunburst? Come with me!" 

Twilight and Sunburst began to follow after Star Swirl, but they glanced back to Atticus on their way. Atticus stayed where he was with a sigh.

"Uh... Atty?" Cherry asked. "You gonna be okay?" 

"I just don't understand." Atticus said.

Cherry gave a small frown for him as her eyes seemed to flash a rainbow color from the Elements of Harmony. 

"Starlight, Cherry, you agree with me that banishing Stygian AKA the Pony of Shadows is wrong, right?" Atticus asked.

"O-Of course I do!" Cherry replied. "I'm not sure what Star Swirl is thinking. Um... I don't know how we can get out of this, but it's just wrong and inhumane." 

Atticus and Cherry soon waited to hear Starlight's thoughts of the banishment.

"Are you gonna listen to me?" Starlight asked.

"We're all here for ya, Star," Cherry replied. "Let your voice be heard."

Starlight released a sharp sigh before she stated her opinion, "I know Star Swirl is a great wizard, but this whole plan seems... Wrong. The map's only ever sent us to solve friendship problems."

"Exactly!" Atticus and Cherry nodded.

"Maybe so, but the Pony of Shadows doesn't really seem like the 'friendship' type." Spike commented.

"Honestly? We don't know anything about him." Starlight replied to him. 

"No, but my father and the Pillars do." Atticus said.

"Hey, um, Patrick?!" Cherry called as she came to her best friend's father.


	5. Chapter 5

The others were soon getting ready for the big battle. Patrick sighed as he sat in the corner, looking through some old pictures. 

"Dad?" Atticus spoke up.

Patrick wiped his eyes and looked up from his book. "Oh, hey, son." 

"You okay?" Atticus asked his father.

"Just remembering when life was a bit simpler..." Patrick sighed to himself. 

"Well, we hope that you and the Pillars can tell us about who Stygian was before becoming the Pony of Shadows." Cherry said.

"That sounds wonderful..." Patrick sighed. "We were such good friends... Almost like you two." 

"That close, huh?" Cherry asked.

"Oh, yes," Patrick nodded. "Almost like brothers." 

"So, then what happened to make him the Pony of Shadows?" Starlight asked Patrick and the Pillars.

"Perhaps I should start at the beginning." Patrick said, taking out his book.

"Oh, Dad, I didn't know you sketched pictures." Atticus said, looking to the book.

"Mostly in my free time, yes." Patrick smiled.

"Cool." Atticus smiled back.

"Stygian was a pony like the rest of the other Pony Pillars, though more scholar than hero," Patrick soon informed them with a sharp sigh. "He recognized the emerging world would need champions to defend it."

"This is true." Rockhoof nodded.

We are shown Equestria, many, many, many years ago. It seemed to be a peaceful day until some singing was heard which made ponies begin to get angry and attack each other for no reason, and where this was all thanks to three familiar Siren ponies. One pony was seen running away from home until he saw what was going on, and soon ran off to get some help, and came back with Star Swirl and the Pillar Ponies. And where they soon went off to fight off the siren ponies while the pony and a younger Patrick stayed behind.

The Sirens glared and began to attack. Flash Magnus brought out his shield to protect himself from a blast. Rockhoof then used his shovel to launch a boulder against the Sirens. Adagio soon blasted the boulder to smithereens before going with Sonata and Aria to handle Rockhoof together. Somnambula soon flew around the Sirens and dashed off as they began to chase after her. Star Swirl then opened a portal in the sky and Somnambula flew up in time as the Sirens flew straight into the portal before it closed behind them, and harmony was returned into Equestria.

"He may have gathered the Pillars together, but he himself was just an ordinary unicorn who soon grew jealous of their abilities." Patrick continued to narrate.

The ponies began to thank Star Swirl and the Pillars for saving them from the sirens. Stygian smiled until he felt sad and soon walked off on his own. Patrick frowned as he watched his best friend walk away.

"He stole objects from each of of the ponies. Artifacts to use in a spell," Patrick continued to narrate. "And they cast him out for it."

We are soon shown Stygian placing the Pillars' Artifacts and Star Swirl's book around Ponehenge before seeing Patrick, Star Swirl, and the Pillars. Star Swirl soon held out his hoof to shoo away Stygian once he was caught in the act. Stygian soon looked to Patrick hoping he would stand by his side. Patrick looked to him.

"Patrick... Help me..." Stygian frowned. "You'll help me, right?"

Patrick was about to walk over to him, but stopped himself as what Stygian was doing didn't look good. Stygian held out his hoof only for Patrick to back away. After seeing his best friend not joining his side or try to defend him, Stygian left, hanging his head out of sadness. Patrick frowned out of guilt as Stygian looked quite unhappy.

"We always thought he'd return and seek forgiveness, but when we saw him again, his heart was bent on revenge," Patrick continued to narrate as he cut to a rainy day at a palace. "He dashed even my hope of saving him."

"But it sounds you guys didn't even try to talk to him to find out why he took your artifacts." Cherry said as the flashback ended.

"Another regret of mine." Patrick frowned.

"Why do you think Stygian took your artifacts?" Atticus asked the Pillars.

"No doubt it was an enchantment to take our powers for himself." Meadowbrook replied.

"Hmm..." Starlight hummed to herself.

"I doubt that was actually the reason." Atticus said.

Starlight and Cherry soon went to go and check on Sunburst, Twilight, and Star Swirl.

"That looks like a lot of work," Cherry said, taking a look around as she walked in. "It's like when Enchantra substituted for History of Warlocks 101."

"You said a muzzle full." Starlight told her.

"It is what must be done, and it would be best if we were not disturbed." Star Swirl told the others.

"I'm sorry, guys, but we can't stop to talk," Twilight replied. "The stakes are too high, and we have to--"

"Banish Stygian to Limbo," Starlight sighed. "We get it."

"But this just seems extreme." Cherry said.

"It's his own fault for turning to darkness." Star Swirl told them as he looked through a book.

"But why did he?" Starlight asked.

"Envy," Star Swirl glared, slamming the book shut he was reading from. "He wanted more power than he had, and that desire led him down a path from which there is no return!"

"Yeah, you're wrong, and Starlight should know because she knows from experience that's not true." Cherry told him.

"Cherry is right," Starlight added. "When the map called you guys to my village, it was for a friendship problem. Are you sure this is different?" she then asked Twilight. 

"I--" Twilight piped up.

"Stygian wants to destroy all that is good in this world," Star Swirl replied. "There's no way to befriend a pony like that."

Cherry glared at Star Swirl after hearing that. "Well, you--!" Cherry soon walked towards Star Swirl until Drell bit on her tail to hold her back.

"Good day!" Star Swirl glared and walked off.

"I am so happy he wasn't here when Starlight was a villain before she reformed." Cherry glared.

Starlight soon had tears in her eyes, feeling angry and hurt with Star Swirl. "Yeah, I might've been banished to Limbo too!" she then added, though glared towards Twilight.

"They're both right, Twilight; it's a good thing Star Swirl wasn't around when Starlight was a villain." Drell told the violet alicorn.

Starlight soon stormed out.

Cherry tried to go and join her, but she was stuck. "Let go of my tail!" she then cried out before Drell let go and she fell flat on the floor on her face. "Thank you." she then muffled.

Drell soon helped her up with his magic before sending her off to follow Starlight.

Starlight wiped her eyes as she felt quite miserable.

"Starlight, I'm so sorry." Cherry said to the pink unicorn.

Atticus smiled as he saw Cherry comfort Starlight.

"It's okay, Cherry." Starlight frowned.

Cherry frowned back and soon decided to hug Starlight to help make it somewhat better.

Sometime later, they were soon at the Tree of Harmony.

"I am glad we have the chance to see what has grown from our efforts so long ago." Somnambula commented.

"It seems a shame to harm it." Mistmane added.

"A necessary sacrifice," Star Swirl told them as he came forth. "With the Elements' power, we will bind the Pony of Shadows in Limbo. And thanks to Twilight, we will remain to watch over the realm ourselves."

"Just use your magic already." Drell said.

"Very well." Star Swirl replied as he then used his magic on the Tree of Harmony. 

And as if the Tree of Harmony recognized, the ancient unicorn's magic it let the Elements of Harmony floated back to the Mane Six.

"Um... How do we use them?" Rockhoof asked.

"Well, you--Oh. I'm not sure," Rarity replied. "They simply work for us."

"I bet that they'll work if each of you go in pairs." Patch said.

"That is a good idea as the magic is attuned to you." Star Swirl added.

"No problem. We're used to banishing evil before breakfast." Rainbow Dash smirked before hoof-bumping with Flash Magnus.

"And it'll be an honor to save Equestria with ya'll." Applejack smiled as she tipped her hat.

Most of the others soon walked off together to confront Stygian: AKA The Pony of Shadows.

"I really hope Twilight knows what she's doing..." Starlight sighed before walking off with Spike. 

"Me too." Atticus said.

They soon came to the Hollow Shades.

"I don't remember reading anything that said the Hollow Shades was like this." Sunburst commented.

"This must be because of the Pony of Shadows." Drell said.

They soon walked in to explore the Hollow Shades.

"Prepare yourselves. He is here," Star Swirl warned as they came together before glaring. "Stygian! Show yourself and face us!"

"Yeah or else we'll make you!" Drell glared.

They soon heard Stygian's laugh and the floor began to crack all around them. Everyone yelled out as the ground under them suddenly fall down, and they all landed on top of each other.

Sunburst grunted before putting his glasses on and took a look at his surroundings. "I definitely would've remembered reading about this." he then said to the others.

The evil laughter came back with some black smoke. 

"He's here." Drell said.

"Well... I-I'm not... Scared..." Cherry said, though she gulped slightly.

Star Swirl soon brought out a bubble barrier to protect them all with.

"Welcome to the Well of Shade! When you turned your backs on me, I discovered this place," Stygian laughed manically at them as he came toward them. "The darkness spoke to me of a power beyond any I could imagine, and I listened. The shadow and I became one. Soon, all of the realm will be the same. Then all ponies will feel the despair I did when you cast me out!" 

"Kinda sounds close to friendship problem to me." Cherry whispered to the others.

"We did what we had to do," Star Swirl glared to Stygian. "You tried to steal our powers for yourself."

"No! It was you who were selfish! And now you will pay!" Stygian glared back. He soon fired his magic at Star Swirl's bubble.

"Okay, this now sounds like a friendship problem." Cherry told the others.

Twilight bit her lip as that made her nervous.

"Ready? Open the portal..." Star Swirl began.

Stygian soon began to zap at them with his horn, shattering the bubble shield into pieces.

"Now!" Star Swirl then concluded. 

"You heard him." Drell told most of the group.

"Please don't do this." Cherry said.

"Cherry, if you're not going to help, butt out." Drell told her. 

"You realize this spell needs all of the Elements of Harmony, right?" Atticus asked.

Cherry just sighed as this wasn't her day. 

"Come on, Cherry, help us!" Pinkie Pie smiled to the perky goth.

Cherry soon joined the others as their medallions/Elements of Harmony glowed as they floated beside the girls and ancient ponies who already activated their Elements of Harmony and artifacts. Stygian saw that before ducking as a colorful blast shot past him, going over his head to show what looked like a portal in the wall. The dark pony grunted and groaned and the others kept trying to push him into the portal.

"No! You will not trap me again!" Stygian cried out.

"Twilight! Push him in!" Star Swirl commanded.

Twilight was about to do just that before she saw a unicorn trying to get out, and where Patrick instantly recognized the unicorn.

"Stygian..." Patrick whispered to himself.

"There's a pony in there!" Twilight realized and soon flew toward the Pony of Shadows and seemed to go inside of him. She soon used her magic so she could see in the dark.

She looked around before stumbling across Stygian who sat by his lonesome. "Are you... Stygian?"

"I was, once," Stygian sulked. "Until my friends betrayed me."

"But Star Swirl said you betrayed them you wanted their magic!" Twilight told Stygian.

"I think I now know the real reason why Stygian took Star Swirl's book and the others artifacts Twilight," Patrick's voice said as he arrived inside. "After thinking back to that day..."

"Then why did he do it?" Twilight asked him. "Wait, how did you get in here?"

"I jumped in just like you did," Patrick said. "Anyway, the reason why he took their artifacts was because Stygian wanted Star Swirl and the Pillars' respect."

"You..." Stygian glanced to Patrick.

"Stygian, I'm so sorry." Patrick frowned to the unicorn.

"Well, you're right, I did want their respect; I brought them together, I planned the strategy and read all about the beasts we faced," Stygian frowned back. "I didn't have magic or strength, so nopony ever noticed me, except you Patrick."

Patrick frowned back as he felt worse for Stygian.

"I went to Ponhenge to make my own copies of the artifacts," Stygian then continued. "With them, I thought I could be a Pillar, too, and stand by their side in battle. I never wanted to steal their power."

The others seemed to overhear this from the other side.

"But instead of sharing and letting me help, my friends threw me out," Stygian then glared before his voice deepened and he growled, backing up against Twilight and Patrick. "So I became stronger than any of them! The darkness welcomed me when no pony would, and I will do what I must to protect it!"

"This is all a misunderstanding!" Patrick told Stygian.

"If the Pillars knew how you felt, I'm sure they wouldn't have turned their backs on you," Twilight added in agreement. "The shadow isn't who you really are. Let us help you be Stygian again."

Patrick hoped his old best friend would accept Twilight's help.

"Even if my friends did still care, what makes you think you have the power to help me?" Stygian huffed.

"Because it's what she does," Starlight said before she came over. "I wasn't so different from you, and Twilight helped me change. If there's one pony in Equestria that can save a friendship, it's her."

"I... I want to believe you..." Stygian said softly before growling. "BUT THE DARKNESS WILL NOT BE STOPPED!"

Twilight and Patrick soon used their magic as lassos as their magic wrapped around Stygian's front hooves before they escaped the shadows. Stygian roared as he was being brought out of the darkness. Twilight and Patrick held on tight, and luckily, Patrick's magic was stronger than it was before thanks to his strong son.

"Fight the darkness, Stygian!" Twilight urged the unicorn stallion. "You don't need it anymore! Revenge isn't what you want! Friendship is!"

"Please, Stygian, you were like my best brother friend!" Patrick added.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Mo asked Twilight and Patrick.

"Ugh! The shadow won't let go of him. He wants to stop, but he can't do it alone." Twilight grunted.

"Star Swirl, you and the others must help!" Patrick urged.

"Then we must." Star Swirl soon said.

Star Swirl, Sunburst, and Starlight soon used their magic to help and the others soon used their Elements of Harmony to help as well.

"Cherry! Help!" Drell called out. "You can help us!"

"I... I'll try... I'm still trying to get used to my own Equestrian magic." Cherry said before she soon began to help out. Luckily, her Equestrian magic was the last help needed.

"Focus, Cherry, that's your problem," Drell said. "You get too anxious, you have to feel it deep within rather than using your brain power to solve your problem."

"Hey, that actually felt helpful." Cherry smiled as that sounded like good advice.

"I'm doing my job being your teacher." Drell told her.

Cherry gave a small smile, but then went back to focusing on her magic so she wouldn't screw up.


	6. Chapter 6

The Pony of Shadows yelled out and was soon sucked away after Stygian was brought out, and where soon, a rainbow explosion happened.

"Whoa..." Cherry whispered in awestruck.

A bright light came from the sky, and the others began to climb or fly out of the hole they were stuck in.

"Whew, finally." Cherry sighed as she got out of the hole.

"Yeah! Oh, it felt sooooo good to do that again!" Rainbow Dash beamed.

"Friendship power rush! Whoo!" Pinkie Pie added before tackling Cherry happily.

Rarity looked down to her neck with a surprised smile. "The Elements! They didn't disappear!"

"Yeah, 'cuz we used them for healing magic instead of banishing." Mo smiled.

"I think Mo is right." Fluttershy added.

"Look!" Applejack pointed out once she saw something worth seeing.

Star Swirl was seen helping Stygian out. Patrick soon hugged his best friend once he was out of the hole with Star Swirl.

"Long ago, you needed our help, Stygian," Star Swirl said to Stygian, looking very apologetic right about now. "But instead of listening, we turned our backs on you. Pride clouded my judgment. I owe you an apology. Thank you for helping us see the errors of our ways, Atticus and Twilight. It seems I never accounted for the Magic of Friendship."

Patrick smiled as he stood by Stygian for the first time in many years.

"Thank you, Swirl Star--I mean, Star Swirl." Twilight smiled to her idol.

Atticus chuckled slightly from 'Swirl Star'. Almost everyone's cutie marks soon began to glow.

"Ahem..." Starlight soon cleared her throat, coming to Star Swirl. "Soooo... Apparently a conversation can save Equestria?"

"Yeah, tell us more." Cherry added with a smirk.

Star Swirl chuckled sheepishly to the both of them. "Something tells me I will be making a lot of apologies today."

"Yes you will, but first, there are two Alicorns that you must see before that." Drell told him.

"Fair enough." Star Swirl replied.

Patrick and Stygian soon smiled to each other. 

"I'd like to see you in my gym to see how strong you've gotten." Drell told Atticus.

"...But I promised Darla I'd take her camping with the CMC?" Atticus pouted.

"Can't you reschedule or find a substitute?" Drell asked.

"Who could take my place?" Atticus asked before looking to his best friend. "...Hi, Cherry."

"Don't even think about it." Cherry said.

"Aw, come on, Cherry," Atticus pouted. "It could be a good chance for you and Darla to bond."

"Hmm..." Cherry just glanced at him.

"How about I do it?" Mo asked.

"Hmm... You sure?" Atticus asked back.

"Well, I do have a bit of experience in being a big sister," Mo smiled before blushing slightly. "Besides, it might be good for me to bond with Darla for, um, you know, the future..."

"True." Atticus nodded.

"Sir Atticus... I would be honored to go camping with Darla and the CMC while you visit Drell." Mo smiled, bowing to him.

"Oh, such a fair lady." Atticus smiled back as he also bowed to her.

The next day...

Princesses Celestia and Luna soon came out to see that they had company.

"I simply cannot believe how tall you've gotten!" Star Swirl smiled to the Alicorn princesses.

"Well, it has been a thousand years." Drell said.

"Too true," Princess Celestia agreed. "Will you stay here and teach magic once again?" she then asked the unicorn hopefully. "My sister and I have such fond memories of your lessons."

"As long as you don't ask for those essays we owed you before you disappeared." Princess Luna then added.

Star Swirl chuckled to them with a small smile. "I'm not certain Canterlot is where I belong. The realm has grown, and I believe I'll have a look around before I settle in any one place."

"I long to see what has become of my home." Meadowbrook smiled.

"I believe we all do." Mistmane added.

"Would you all like to stay?" Cherry asked.

All of the ponies nodded as that sounded like a great idea.

"That's great news." Patrick smiled.

"Then I hope you will return to Canterlot on occasion and share the wisdom of your great experience with the next generation of ponies." Princess Celestia told Star Swirl.

"G5?" Cherry smirked to herself.

Drell smirked as well as he heard her.

"We would be honored, but if it is wisdom you seek, look no further than your own pupil," Star Swirl told Princess Celestia before looking back towards Twilight. "She showed me that the power of friendship is a magical force indeed, and that in turning away from others, you hurt yourself as well."

The group soon got into a group hug.

"It's funny," Twilight said, wiping a tear from her eye as she looked to Starlight. "I thought meeting my idol would give me all the answers I ever wanted, but instead, I forgot what I already knew. Good thing I had a student of my own to remind me."

"By the way, how did you meet Atticus's dad?" Patch asked Star Swirl and the Pillars.

"Oh, it's a lovely story," Star Swirl smiled. "Patrick, you remember too, don't you?"

"Of course," Patrick smiled back, taking out his old sketchbook. "I made some pictures."

Patrick soon flipped to some pages that looked like his first month in Equestria. The others came to take a look.

"Ah, yes," Patrick smiled. "It was a long, long time ago..." he then said before looking to Atticus. "Long before you were even born."

Atticus nodded as that made sense.

Flashback to where a young Patrick was doing his best to try and get his horn to glow even if he had been in Equestria for a month now and soon kicked what he thought was a rock out of frustration. "I'm never gonna get this right!" Patrick complained, sounding like a child with his frustration. He soon heard growling and where at first he thought it was his stomach only for the growling to be louder as the thing he kicked was starting to move. "Oh! Uh... Heh... Sorry about that, Rock...?" he then smiled nervously. He soon saw that it wasn't a rock, but a golem. 

The creature snarled to Patrick.

"Um... Hey..." Patrick smiled nervously, backing up away from it. "Listen, uh, I was just thinking... I mean... No offense to you of course... I was just working on something."

The golem continued to growl at him, finding that as an excuse for kicking it.

"Heh... Oh, boy..." Patrick grinned nervously.

The golem roared in his face.

"Someone help!" Patrick cried out as he tried to use his horn, but nothing seemed to happen.

The golem soon raised its right fist, about to smash Patrick to the ground who runs from the rock creature as it misses. Patrick began to run for his life, making the golem chase him. It looked like doomsday for Patrick so far, until...

"Psst!" A voice whispered to him. "Over here!"

Patrick soon looked to where the voice whispered to him. A unicorn stallion was shown to be hiding in a cavern. Patrick soon ran that way and came beside the unicorn stallion to avoid the golem. And where the golem soon ran right past the cavern as if it didn't notice it, thinking Patrick was still way ahead.

"Are you all right?" The unicorn asked Patrick.

"Yeah... I'm okay..." Patrick panted. "Thanks for the help. Who are you?"

"My name is Star Swirl." The unicorn said.

"Star Swirl..." Patrick smiled. "That's a nice name. My name is Patrick." 

"That is a very unique name." Star Swirl said.

"Um, I'm not really from Equestria actually," Patrick replied. "It's a bit of a long story."

"Hmm... You sound like you have quite the story to tell." Star Swirl guessed. 

"Yeah, and it's related to why that Golem was chasing after me." Patrick said.

"Where did you come from then?" Star Swirl asked him. 

"And so, I began to tell Star Swirl about where I came from and about when I arrived in Equestria as well as how I angered the Golem," Patrick's voice narrated. "And his reaction to that last part was an understanding one."

"I see... I see..." Star Swirl nodded. "I was wondering why you didn't use your own magic for protection..." 

"Yeah, I don't know that many Equestrian spells to use or how I can my horn to glow to use my magic." Patrick smiled sheepishly.

"You are new around here," Star Swirl chuckled. "It's not really that hard."

Patrick smiled bashfully to his new friend.

"Here, let me help you." Star Swirl offered. 

"Thanks, I could really use the help." Patrick smiled.

"Allow me to help you, my new friend," Star Swirl replied. "You seem like you could use it."

Patrick and Star Swirl soon smiled together as this was the start of a very beautiful and magical friendship.

"And so, Star Swirl began to teach me how to use my magic through my horn." Patrick's voice narrated as the past unicorns began to start the lessons.

"Sounds inspirational for teaching Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." Cherry's voice commented. 

"He taught me every spell he knew; of course, we had to start with the basics." Patrick's voice narrated.

"Oh, but of course." Atticus's voice replied.

Patrick soon used his horn to turn a rock into a wizard's hat before wearing it with a smile. 

"Very impressive, Patrick." Star Swirl smiled.

Patrick soon took off the hat and held it out.

"Oh, no, I couldn't." Star Swirl said.

"I think it suits you." Patrick smiled. 

"Thank you very much, Patrick." Star Swirl smiled back as he accepted the hat with his magic and placed it on his head.

"So, that's where he got his hat." Patch's voice smiled.

"You were right, it did suit me." Star Swirl's voice chuckled to Patrick. 

"After giving him the hat I made from my magic, I was going to impress him with how far I could teleport." Patrick's voice narrated.

Patrick and Star Swirl soon came into a forest together.

"All right, remember what I told you." Star Swirl instructed.

Patrick nodded and soon began to make himself teleport around the forest. And where it was working until he ended up on top of a familiar rock formation. Star Swirl soon came to join Patrick.

"How's that?" Patrick chuckled to his new friend. 

"That was impressive." Star Swirl smiled before the rock formation started to move.

Patrick soon looked with him before gasping at the rock formation. The golem soon glared at Patrick as he stood on top of it. Patrick soon teleported off of the golem and soon looked up at it.

"Man, you just have bad luck with golems, don't you, Mr. Fudo?" Mo's voice asked.

"Oh, you have no idea." Patrick's voice sighed.

"More golems?" Patrick groaned to himself. "This is just not my week..."

"It is time that we see how well your magic blasts are now." Star Swirl told him.

"You sure I'm ready?" Patrick asked.

"I insist," Star Swirl replied. "Remember what I taught you."

Patrick nodded and soon began to shoot magic from his horn, and where the golem began to flinch from the magic blasts.

"Nice going!" Star Swirl smiled to him.

"Hey! That wasn't so bad!" Patrick smiled back.

The golem soon ran off, not feeling brave anymore as Patrick fought back this time.

"Yeah, you better run away!" Patrick smirked.

"Okay, don't bruise your ego." Star Swirl chuckled as he came out to see Patrick.

"After that, my lessons with Star Swirl continued until I bumped into a certain strong stallion." Patrick's voice narrated.

Star Swirl and Patrick appeared to be working on something.

"Could you run into the market? I forgot some ingredients." Star Swirl told Patrick.

"Oh, sure, be right back," Patrick said before he walked off to do just that before running into a new stallion. "Oof! Oops, sorry, I didn't mean to run into you."

"Hm? A challenger?" The stallion glared.

"No, no, no challenge!" Patrick begged.

"Unfortunately, you could already tell what happened with the luck I had that wasn't magic related." Patrick's voice said.

The stallion narrowed his eyes. Patrick shivered at first.

"Hm... All right... No challenge." The stallion then told him, seeing Patrick wasn't challenging him.

"Whew." Patrick sighed.

"You are rather small for a stallion." The stallion said.

"Hey!" Patrick pouted. 

"Are you strong?" The stallion asked.

"Uh, probably not as much as you," Patrick grinned sheepishly. "Although, my magic is pretty strong."

"Can you lift these?" The stallion smirked, showing a bunch of boulders.

"No, no, I couldn't even if I tried." Patrick smiled bashfully.

"You never know until you try." The stallion smirked as he lifted a boulder up with his right hoof without throwing it.

Patrick watched that, still feeling unsure.

"Come on!" The stallion chuckled, holding it out to him.

"Oh, Atticus, I wish you could've been born and strong enough around that time sometimes." Patrick's voice sighed.

Patrick soon gulped before used his magic to try and levitate the boulder from the stallion's hoof as he grunted and his horn glowed. The stallion watched Patrick. Patrick grunted and panted before beginning to sweat from the weight, and where he was half was as the boulder was in the air, but it was above the stallion as Patrick couldn't seem to levitate the boulder any further. Suddenly, a shovel was brought out and the stallion caught it. Patrick panted as he fell to the ground as that took a lot out of him.

"Well, that is pretty good." The stallion told him as he tossed the boulder away with a swing of his shovel before helping Patrick up.

"Thanks," Patrick said. "You're good with rocks and boulders, huh?"

"Oh, yes, very much so," The stallion smirked. "They call me Rockhoof."

"I can tell," Patrick smiled before holding out his right front hoof for a hoofshake. "I'm Patrick."

The two soon shook hooves.

"Man, you're really strong." Patrick smiled. His hoof could prove it as it throbbed a bit.

"Oops. Sorry about that." Rockhoof chuckled.

"It's okay." Patrick grinned sheepishly, though his eyes watered up from the pain.

"I sometimes forget to not use too much of my strength." Rockhoof smiled sheepishly back.

"Mm..." Patrick replied before taking out a list with his horn's magic. "Oh, uh, excuse me. I have to run some errands."

"Maybe I can help you find what you're looking for." Rockhoof told Patrick.

"Really?" Patrick asked. "Well... I am a little new around town, that would mean a lot to me."

"While we were going to do the errands, Rockhoof and I got to know more about each other." Patrick's voice narrated.

They seemed to bond pretty well as they smiled to each other.

"Well, you seem to have an amazing use of strength against predators," Patrick chuckled to Rockhoof. "Hard to believe you were once so tiny."

"I know it, just happened one day." Rockhoof smiled as he flexed his front right hoof.

They soon ran into the marketplace. Patrick listed what he needed and luckily found most of what he and Star Swirl needed as Rockhoof helped him out a bit.

"Looks like we got most of everything on the list," Patrick said as he read the list. "There's just one last thing to get."

"Glad I could help out," Rockhoof said to him. "Your friend sounds a bit mystical if he needs all of this for a... Um...?"

"Potion." Patrick replied.

"Right... Potion." Rockhoof said.

"The last thing I need to get is dragon's toenail." Patrick said.

"Dragon?" Rockhoof asked. "Are you sure you wanna go to a dragon up close?"

"It says here that we can find a merchant that has the dragon toenails." Patrick said.

"Well... All right, but dragons are no good." Rockhoof warned.

"I'll keep that in mind." Patrick replied as he explored.

"After traveling for a short time, I finally found the merchant; there was just one problem though." Patrick's voice said.

"What happened?" Atticus's voice asked.

"Well..." Patrick's voice smiled nervously.

"What?! What do you mean your out of dragon toenails?!" Patrick asked the merchant unicorn in a panicked voice.

"I'm sorry, but we're out, sonny," The merchant unicorn replied. 

"How is that even possible?!" Patrick asked.

"I sold the last vial to a Mr. Clever." The merchant said.

"Mr. Clever, huh?" Patrick replied. "Do you happen to know where this Mr. Clever is right now?"

"Sorry, he left right after buying the dragon toenails." The merchant told him.

"D'oh!" Patrick groaned. "I need those dragon toenails!"

"Then you'll either have to wait until next month or get the dragon toenails yourself." The unicorn merchant told him.

"...Get them myself?" Patrick asked nervously.

"I don't blame ya for being nervous," The unicorn merchant replied. "Dragons are scary creatures. It's best to keep away from them."

Patrick gulped before looking back at his list and decided to do something that would most likely be dangerous.

"I'm sorry, sir." The unicorn merchant said.

Patrick soon went to the dragons anyway, though he felt nervous about doing so as he had to help Star Swirl.

"I was scared of the dragons, but I knew I had to get the dragon toenails." Patrick's voice narrated.

"Who wasn't scared of the dragons in Equestria?" Drell's voice remarked. "I mean, ponies were pretty xenophobic until Spike came around."

"Anyway, when I got to the Dragon Lands, I was about to enter the dragon cave." Patrick's voice said.

Patrick came into the Dragon Lands and it seemed like most of the dragons there were asleep, thankfully enough, as he went to sneak inside of a cave.

'I just have to be very careful.' Patrick thought to himself.

One big dragon was shown to be sleeping in the cave, drooling slightly.

Patrick grimaced from the dragon drool and lit his horn in the dark cave, looking around until he found some leftover toenail clippings, at least that's what they looked like to him. 'Those should do.' he then thought to himself before collecting them.

"Unknown to me, along the dragon toenails that were on the ground were some dragon toenails that were still attached to a dragon." Patrick's voice said.

Patrick soon collected the toenails with a smile and began to walk off with them, thinking he was free to go. Unfortunately he accidentally kicked a pebble which hit one of the dragons. The dragon blinked before letting a low roar.

"...I must be hungry," Patrick said, holding his stomach as he heard the roar until he saw a big shadow coming from behind him and he turned around. "Oh, dear!"

The dragon soon looked enraged as he had woke it up.

"Heheh... Oops...?" Patrick smiled nervously, backing up from the dragon. 

"Little did I know, I was about to meet someone else who was coming with his Legion into the Dragon Lands," Patrick's voice narrated. "Can you guess who?" 

"Oh, it has to be Flash Magnus." Atticus's voice guessed.

"Bingo." Patrick's voice smiled.

Flash Magnus was shown, though he seemed like he was lost from his group as he was in the Dragon Lands which all of the ponies thought would be rather dumb and dangerous to be stuck in, and where he soon saw Patrick as he was trotting for his life while levitating the dragon toenails with his magic. The dragon snarled from the cave.

"What the hay?!" Flash Magnus yelped and soon flew down after Patrick to help him out.

"It had to be dragon toenails; it couldn't just be something easy, like, I don't know, apples or something!" Patrick complained while trotting for his life.

Flash Magnus soon flew in with a sharp glare to help out Patrick.

"Huh? Is that a knight?" Patrick asked himself.

The dragon snarled while breathing fire until Flash Magnus came down in front of him, reflecting the flames with his shield.

"Whoa." Patrick said.

Flash Magnus shook his head to get the flames out and soon flew away as the dragons began to go after him from inside of the cave.

"He saved my life..." Patrick whispered, feeling touched.

Patrick soon put the dragon toenails in a jar he had in a saddlebag before closing it up and putting the jar back in the saddlebag before closing it and went to try and help Flash Magnus. Flash Magnus looked a bit nervous as he was surrounded by big, giant dragons. They kept trying to burn him, but he soon flew away from them as bravely and quickly as he could. And where once Patrick saw the flames from the dragons he panicked and soon ran as fast as he could outside.

"Get out of here, man!" Flash Magnus told Patrick.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Patrick yelped as he tried to keep his tail from getting burned.

Flash Magnus soon rode his shield like a board and grabbed a hold of Patrick to swerve against the flames.

"Whoa." Patrick yelped.

"You okay?" Flash Magnus asked him.

"I... I think so..." Flash replied.

"That's good." Flash Magnus smiled.

Patrick smiled back as he seemed to make another new friend, and once they escaped the dragon's cave, the dragon went back to sleep. The two panted as they made it far from the Dragon Lands.

"You okay?" Flash Magnus asked.

"Yeah... I'm fine..." Patrick panted. "Phew! Thanks a lot for saving me."

"No problem; just one question." Flash Magnus said.

"Sure, what is it?" Patrick asked.

"What were you doing in there anyway?" Flash Magnus asked. "The Dragon Lands are no place for a pony!"

"Sorry, but I had to get dragon toenails; the merchant had just sold the only jar of dragon toenails he had." Patrick told him.

"You trying to make something?" Flash Magnus asked.

"Yeah, my friend and I needed some," Patrick replied. "It's crucial."

"Well, I hope you and your friend succeed then," Flash Magnus said. "I'm Flash Magnus by the way."

"Hi, Flash Magnus," Patrick smiled. "My name is Patrick."

"Well, I better get back to my troop." Flash Magnus said.

"Oh... Um... Okay," Patrick said. "It was nice meeting you, Flash Magnus." 

"Likewise, Patrick," Flash Magnus smiled back before flying off. "Get home safe."

"I will." Patrick nodded.

Flash Magnus soon flew away as Patrick soon trotted away from the Dragon Lands to get back to Star Swirl.

"After some time, I got back to Star Swirl." Patrick's voice narrated.

Star Swirl paced around until he saw Patrick. Patrick panted and wiped his forehead.

"What took you so long?" Star Swirl asked. "I was getting worried."

"Sorry, took me a little longer to get the last item." Patrick told him.

"I'm glad you're back though," Star Swirl said, collecting the dragon toenails. "Now the potion can be completed."

"Great." Patrick smiled.

Star Swirl smiled back as they worked together. Patrick smiled as he thought about his new friends as they seemed interesting and wondered if he would see them again, and of course, he would in the near future.

"We soon started to make the potion." Patrick's voice said.

"I would think so." Cherry's voice snarked.

"Cherry..." Atticus's voice sighed.

"What's this potion for?" Patrick asked his friend.

"I'm hoping to make Equestria a better place." Star Swirl replied.

"With just this potion?" Patrick asked.

"It'll grow and expand overtime," Star Swirl replied. "I'll have some volunteers come over to sample it so that we can protect our home from any dangers we may come across."

"Nice." Patrick smiled.

"The ponies in question though, I'm not sure, but yes," Star Swirl replied. "I need ponies who are strong, brave, and determined."

"I'm sure you'll find some," Patrick smiled. "Like this guy Rockhoof I met? Oh, man, is he strong with that shovel of his!"

"Hmm... Yes, he does sound promising." Star Swirl nodded.

"And there was Flash Magnus... He's so brave and almost glorious!" Patrick smiled.

"Hey!" Spike's voice pouted. "I'm brave and glorious!"

"This was long before you hatched, Spike." Patrick's voice said.

"Okay, fair enough." Spike's voice sighed which made some of the others chuckle.

"I guess this was before Princess Celestia met Sombra too?" Cherry's voice guessed.

"Just a bit since Celestia and Luna were very young during this time before Star Swirl became their teacher." Patrick's voice informed.

"Ohh." Cherry's voice said.

Patrick and Star Swirl bonded as Patrick was handling Equestria better and better each day the more time he spent with his new friend, almost like he could actually originate from there.

"Nice levitation, Patrick," Star Swirl smiled. "You feel like a true Equestrian native."

"Yeah, I truly do." Patrick smiled back.

This was a happy day for Patrick.

"Hmm... I should visit here more... It feels so peaceful... Uh, most of the time." Patrick smiled as he liked Equestria since he had Star Swirl to help him out now.

"There was just one problem with going back to Earth though." Patrick's voice said.

"That can't be good." Mo frowned to Patrick as he bowed his head in memory.

"The problem was that I didn't know how to get back to Earth." Patrick said.

"Ooh..." The others replied.

"I could've been stuck there forever!" Patrick said, a bit too overly dramatic. "Ooooohh~..."

The others glanced at him as that was a bit too far.

"Can I get some eggs with that ham?" Cherry smirked to her best friend's father.

"Anyway, what happened next?" Mo asked her boyfriend's father.

"I felt stuck for a while," Patrick frowned. "I didn't know what to do. Equestria was nice, but I had to get back home somehow... I just didn't know how to do it."


	7. Chapter 7

Patrick sighed as he woke up in the cot that Star Swirl let him sleep in and Star Swirl looked in the dozens of books he had to look for a way to send his new friend back home, but seemed to have trouble in doing so until he looked to see that an important day was coming up for him.

'I am going to be stuck here forever.' Patrick thought to himself.

"Oh, my..." Star Swirl said. "Patrick, I'm so sorry, but I must meet The King and Queen."

"I understand." Patrick told the unicorn.

"Would you care to come along?" Star Swirl invited. 

"...I got nowhere else to go." Patrick shrugged.

"And so, we were off for Star Swirl's meeting with the king and queen." Patrick's voice narrated.

They walked off together, coming to the Dream Castle which had guards until they were allowed in and began to come to the throne room, meeting the rulers at the time, Celestia and Luna's parents: King Solar Flare and Queen Majesty.

"Should I wait out here?" Patrick asked.

"Wait here for now, this shouldn't take too long." Star Swirl told Patrick before going on ahead.

Patrick nodded before looking to the royal guards who stared forward with their staffs. "Well, this should be interesting." Patrick grumbled.

Star Swirl soon came back out. "The King and Queen say you can come inside," he then said. "They also think they might have a way to send you back home."

"That's great!" Patrick beamed as he clapped his front hooves together.

"Wait, wait, wait, what about Mistmane and Meadowbrook and Somnambula?" Cherry's voice asked. "When did you meet them?"

"Sometime after seeing the King and Queen." Patrick told her.

"But how?" Cherry asked. "Didn't you go home after seeing them?"

"Well, no, actually," Patrick said. "There was a bit of a catch before I could go back home where I belonged."

"Ohh, continue then." Cherry said.

Patrick and Star Swirl stood before the King and Queen.

"So, you wish to go home..." King Solar Flare said. "Patrick, was it? I'm sorry, but... The portal back to your world is closed, and you cannot go back home until it opens again."

"W-When will that be?" Patrick frowned.

"I'm afraid not for another 10 moons." Queen Majesty replied.

"I was afraid you'd say that..." Patrick sighed before bowing. "I might as well try to make the most of it."

"Ohh, so that's what you meant." Cherry's voice said.

"Right," Patrick's voice replied. "I gotta tell you guys, I felt pretty stuck at the time. I was worried about my friends and family back home, they were probably worried sick about me as well."

After meeting the king and queen, Patrick and Star Swirl soon left the castle.

"I'm really sorry, Patrick," Star Swirl frowned. "Looks like you're still stuck here for a while."

"Looks like it." Patrick sighed.

"I'm terribly sorry." Star Swirl said.

"Oh, it's okay," Patrick sighed. "I hope everything will be all right back home. Especially my sister... We're so close."

"As we were on our way back from the castle..." Patrick's voice narrated.

Patrick sat by himself on the end of a cliff, looking up to the sky as he felt very homesick. 

"Oh, my, my... You shouldn't look so blue or down on life..." A female voice said behind him which made him turn around to see what looked like an Egyptian pony. "There's much to be thankful for, but you mustn't focus on the bad. It's not healthy."

"Sorry, it's just my only way back to where I came from is closed and I have to wait 10 moons until it opens back up." Patrick told the Egyptian pony.

"I'm sure it must be hard..." The Egyptian pony said. "Just try to make the most of it that you can... I sense you come from a great distance."

"I do..." Patrick nodded to her. "And where my family and friends are back home; they must be worried."

"I'm sure, but you must calm down so you do not worry yourself sick," The Egyptian pony advised. "I'm sorry you are stranded for now, but try to go to a happy place."

"Okay." Patrick said before doing his best to calm down.

The Egyptian pony helped him out. Patrick still felt homesick, but he began to look somewhat better than he was before. And after sometime, he was soon better.

"Better?" The Egyptian pony asked.

"A little bit..." Patrick said. "Thanks... Uh...?"

"My name is Somnambula." The Egyptian pony replied.

"Thanks, Somnambula." Patrick said.

"It is my pleasure," Somnambula replied. "It's my job to be helpful, especially as an adviser to Prince Hisan."

"Ooh." Patrick smiled.

"I have to save him sometimes, especially from snakes." Somnambula chuckled to herself.

"Does he always get himself in danger?" Patrick asked.

"He's a bit danger prone if you know what I mean." Somnambula chuckled.

"Yeah, I do." Patrick chuckled back.

"I do hope you get back home soon though." Somnambula said to him.

"Me too," Patrick sighed before smiling. "Thank you for your advice though."

"Always happy to help." Somnambula smiled back.

Patrick smiled as he made a new friend and soon came to stay with Star Swirl for another night, though he thought about his family back home, but managed to calm himself down because of the Egyptian pony's advice.

"As I stayed with Star Swirl while waiting, we continued my magic lessons..." Patrick's voice narrated.

Twilight looked majorly excited.

"Chill out, Twilight." Atticus chuckled to her.

"When did you meet Mistmane?" Mo asked her boyfriend's father.

"Hmm... Let's see..." Patrick paused to think back. "Feels like ages and ages ago."

"You remember, Patrick," Mistmane said, coming to him to help jog his memory a little. "You helped me when Sable Spirit caused that trouble."

"Oh, yeah!" Patrick soon smiled. "That was it. How could I forget about Sable Spirit?"

The flashback soon continues. Patrick soon wandered a bit before looking over. A young Mistmane was shown in a garden, tending it to it with her horn.

"You sure do like to garden." Patrick smkiled at the young Mistmane.

"Oh, uh, yeah, thanks," Mistmane smiled back. "I don't think I've seen you before."

"I'm sorta new around here," Patrick said. "My name's Patrick."

"Hi, I'm Mistmane." Mistmane smiled.

"That's a beautiful name." Patrick smiled back.

"Oh, thank you." Mistmane smiled.

"You must love gardening." Patrick smiled back.

"Oh, I do, but my real passion is magic." Mistmane replied to him.

"After hearing what Mistmane's passion was, I had an idea." Patrick's voice narrated.

Mistmane tended to her garden.

"You know, Mistmane, you should really meet my friend Star Swirl," Patrick said. "I think you guys would get along great."

"Oh, thank you, Patrick." Mistmane smiled.

"Wait, wait, wait, was that before or after she got accepted into the magic school that you insisted she enroll herself into?" Drell's voice asked.

"Seriously, Drell?" Patrick rolled his eyes. "I thought you of all people would know this."

"Yeah!" Cherry smirked.

"Obviously, it was before," Patrick soon said. "I helped her come out of her shell with her very unique magic, I mean, everyone knows that unicorns are the masters of magic in Equestria, but she had very special abilities. I didn't want her to let her talent go to waste, so I helped her find the courage of going into Magic School."

"Ooh." Mo smiled.

Mistmane soon ran over giddily. "Patrick! Patrick! They accepted me!" she then beamed. "Thank you so much for all your help!"

"Oh, no problem," Patrick smiled to her. "I knew you could do it."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have thought of enrolling into the magic school if you hadn't given me the courage." Mistmane smiled back.

"Aw, well, I'm glad that I could help." Patrick smiled bashfully, feeling proud of himself for helping out a friend in need.

"Of course before leaving for magic school, Mistmane just had to say goodbye to everypony, and where they were going to miss her very much." Patrick's voice narrated.

Patrick gave a small smile as he watched Mistmane saying goodbye to everyone, especially her best friend.

"Goodbye, Sable Spirit." Mistmane told her best friend.

"Goodbye, Mistmane." Sable Spirit replied.

The rest of the ponies of Mistmane's village bid Mistmane farewell, each one going to miss her as she left her village. Patrick waved to Mistmane as she began to leave to fulfill her destiny and dreams of magic school.

"So, what happened next?" Mo's voice asked.

"Well, of course, Mistmane went to magic school," Patrick said. "And now finally..."

Patrick was trying to lift up a boulder over his head, but his magic stopped and it came down and crushed him painfully and he yelled out of pain as it hurt really bad. 

"Oh, my, are you hurt?" A voice asked him. "Here, let me help you."

"I'd really appreciate it!" Patrick said as his voice was squeaky from the pain.

A mare soon came out to help out poor Patrick. Patrick whimpered from the pain until he soon felt better as he was magically healed.

"Whew, thank you for the help." Patrick smiled before he looked to see the mare.

The mare smiled back as she began to help him out with a special healing power she had since he was in pain.

"That was amazing." Patrick smiled back.

"It was my pleasure," The mare said. "What's your name?"

"Patrick." Patrick replied.

"That's an interesting name," The mare said. "My name is Meadowbrook."

"That's a unique name." Patrick smiled.

"I could say the same thing about you." Meadowbrook chuckled.

Patrick smiled sheepishly as his name sounded odd inside the world of Equestria.

"So mind telling me what happened?" Meadowbrook asked Patrick.

"I was trying to practice some levitation and some boulders fell on me," Patrick explained with a sigh. "Guess that was kinda dumb of me."

"You should be more careful." Meadowbrook told him.

"I'll keep that in mind," Patrick said. "How'd you get good at healing?"

"I guess you could say it's my calling in life." Meadowbrook smiled.

"You must have remedies for everything." Patrick said.

"Just about, yes," Meadowbrook smiled. "I do what I can to take care of ponies in need."

"That's amazing." Patrick smiled back.

A little way's down the road...

Patrick and Star Swirl seemed to run into the ponies altogether, though they planned for it.

"So, you wanted me to meet these ponies?" Star Swirl asked Patrick.

"Yes," Patrick replied. "I think these might be the ponies you're looking for." He soon saw familiar ponies he's met, although one of them seemed to be an older mare unicorn.

"So, you were the one who brought them all together." Atticus smiled.

"Yep." Patrick nodded. 

"And was that then when you met Stygian?" Mo asked her boyfriend's father.

"Oh, of course," Patrick smiled. "My best friend."

Drell snorted a bit.

"Uh, in Equestria." Patrick then quickly added.

"That's what I thought." Drell smirked.

"Uh, so, anyway..." Patrick soon continued his backstory.

"I can do this... I'll be back home soon... The King and Queen said so..." Patrick told himself. "I'll survive another day in this crazy world!"

And with how he was paying attention to getting back home, he didn't notice that a certain young unicorn was trotting his way. BAM! The two ran into each other by accident, and they were both on the ground.

"This just isn't my day..." Patrick muttered to himself. Patrick soon got up before looking to see the unicorn he bumped into.

"Uh... You okay...?" The unicorn asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Patrick said before helping him up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." The unicorn replied.

"That's a relief," Patrick smiled before seeing the trail the unicorn had ran from. "So, are you in a hurry somewhere?"

"Uh... You could say that," The unicorn replied. "Oh, by the way, my name's Stygian."

"Nice to meet you, Stygian," Patrick smiled. "I'm Patrick."

The two soon shook hooves.

"Where you off to, buddy?" Patrick asked Stygian.

"Oh, just out for a walk." Stygian smiled.

"That's nice." Patrick smiled back.

"You lost?" Stygian asked Patrick.

"Eh, I'm just wandering around myself." Patrick shrugged.

"That's nice." Stygian smiled.

Patrick and Stygian soon walked together, and they seemed to become closer friends than Patrick did with Star Swirl.

"And I'm guessing, by the time, it was time for you to go home; it was around the same time that Stygian was the Pony of Shadows and that Star Swirl and the Pillars sent him to Limbo with them, right?" Mo's voice guessed.

"Yes... I'm afraid so..." Patrick sighed softly. "It just hurt me inside to see Stygian have to go down the path he did."

"And all just because you guys didn't try talking." Cherry said.

Patrick frowned as that seemed to haunt him a little.

"Um... Uh... Sorry." Cherry said to him.

Mo and the other soon tried to think of something to change the subject.

"That was a great story, Dad," Atticus said. "Thank you so much for sharing that with us."

"Oh... You're welcome, son." Patrick smiled.

"How about you show Star Swirl and Rockhoof how much stronger you've gotten in strength and magic?" Patch smiled back.

"Hmm... I suppose I could do that..." Patrick smiled. "Let's go outside though. I'd hate to break anything in here."

"Oh, yes," Cherry replied. "I remember when Atticus first slept over after we met Hercules, and he broke the door by opening it to come down for breakfast."

"To be fair, I had just woken up." Atticus said.

"Yeah, I guess." Cherry smirked playfully.

"Anyway, that's a smart decision, Mr. Fudo." Mo said.

"I can take a hint." Patrick chuckled to himself.


	8. Chapter 8

They soon came outside once they were gathered all around. Drell and Atticus soon worked together to bring out some boulders for Patrick to show Rockhoof his new strength boost, and where Drell began to try to bring along the biggest boulder he found.

"You losing your touch?" Atticus smirked before chuckling.

Drell smirked back, making the boulder crash on him.

"Wah!" Atticus yelped before muffling. "Okay... I guess I shouldn't joke about that..." 

Drell then moved the boulder and helped him up. "Nope."

They soon got back to Patrick with the boulders.

"Here you go, Dad," Atticus smiled. "Some boulders for ya."

"Thanks, son." Patrick smiled back as he walked up to one boulder.

Rockhoof watched and was soon surprised as Patrick was able to lift it up with his front right hoof. Patrick smiled to Rockhoof.

"Ah! You have been working out." Rockhoof smiled to him.

"You can thank my son for this strength." Patrick smiled back as he spun the boulder like a basketball on the tip of his right hoof.

"Show-off." Drell teased.

"Like father, like son." Cherry smirked.

After showing his new strength, it was soon time for Patrick's magic as Star Swirl was going to test it himself. Rockhoof smiled to Patrick and he then smiled back to him.

"Let's see how your magic's evolved, shall we?" Star Swirl asked Patrick.

Patrick smirked playfully before levitating Star Swirl with his horn for a little joke.

"Oh, ha, ha, very funny." Star Swirl smirked back.

"Sorry, sorry." Patrick chuckled, setting him down.

"Anything else you wanna show me?" Star Swirl smirked.

"Hmm... All right..." Patrick said before he began to teleport all around from his horn's magic.

"Very impressive." Star Swirl nodded.

"Thanks," Patrick smiled. "It's all thanks to you of course."

"Oh, go on." Star Swirl smiled back, a bit bashfully.

After sometime, it was soon time to go back home.

"So, uh, you wanna take Darla camping with the CMC?" Atticus smiled.

"Sure," Mo smiled back. "It'll be like having a little sister of my own since they'll have Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash."

"True." Atticus smiled.

The two shared a hug with each other.

Atticus yelped as he fell to the ground as Drell dragged him by his tail. "Of course..." He grumbled from that.

"I said we gotta go, I mean it!" Drell muffled.

"Couldn't you just tap me on the shoulder or something?" Atticus rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, but got no time for that." Drell muffled.

Cherry soon laughed at Atticus as that looked a little funny.

"Ha, ha, laugh it up." Atticus muttered.

Cherry kept laughing for a bit. Drell soon gave her a look. Cherry shrunk only slightly and backed up nervously.

"I just know that camping will be great." Mo smiled.

"I really hope you and Darla have fun," Atticus smiled back to her. "I think she's starting to look up to you."

"Aw!" Mo smiled.

Atticus smiled. "Drell, is tail dragging really necess--"

"Yes!" Drell replied.

Atticus rolled his eyes with a sigh, but put up with it as he was taken into the warlock's gym. "This sure is going to be interesting." He sighed.

Mo waved to Atticus as it seemed like his time in Equestria was up, along with the others, but she was going to stay for the camping trip, but she went home for now to prepare for it. "I'll be right back," Mo told Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. "Meet you in the forest."

"Meet you in the forest, darling." Rarity smiled.

Mo smiled back and soon took the portal back home like others, except for Atticus. 'Here we go.' Mo thought to herself.

Darla soon finished up her homework and sort of paced around in her room. Mo soon appeared in Darla's bedroom, crash landing in a pile of stuffed animals.

"Oh! Mo!" Darla gasped.

"Hey, kid..." Mo smiled sheepishly.

"When did you get in here?" Darla asked.

"I was expecting to go back to my house," Mo shrugged. "I was just in Equestria. I'm gonna take you camping with the Cutie Mark Crusaders." she then smiled.

"Yay! Wait, why can't Atticus take me?" Darla frowned.

"He has to go to Drell's gym for a bit," Mo replied. "Also, this is a big sister/little sister camping trip. I don't have a little sister, so maybe it'll be a good chance for us to bond."

"Yeah." Darla smiled.

Mo smiled back. "That's okay, right?"

"Well... I would love to go with Atticus, but I suppose you and I could hang out since you're his girlfriend." Darla replied.

"Plus it'll be a way for us to get along as future sister-in-laws." Mo smiled.

"Yeah!" Darla smiled back.

The two girls hugged and laughed before they got ready to go camping as Mo brought out her medallion to take them into Equestria. This trip would be the most perfect opportunity for the two girls to bond with each other and get along.

Applejack was soon seen getting a tent ready for the trip. "No colts allowed." she then smirked playfully to Clark. 

"Aw, fiddle-faddle." Clark pouted playfully.

"You'll survive." Applejack smirked playfully.

"All right, all right." Clark said.

"Come on, son," Bright Mac smiled, pulling Clark into a hold. "You can always bond with me, Big Mac, and Grand Pear."

"I'd like that." Clark smiled back.

Applejack and Apple Bloom smiled as they soon went to get going on the camping trip.

Mo and Darla arrived where the others told them to meet up at and soon got ready to pitch the tent together.

"This tent is going to be great." Mo smiled.

"You camp a lot, Mo?" Darla asked.

"Well, I have some experience with sleeping outside." Mo smiled sheepishly.

"Cool." Darla smiled.

Soon, the tents were all lined up together.

"Tents are lookin' good," Applejack smiled. "And we made good time today. At this rate, we'll be at Winsome Falls by tomorrow!"

"That's great." Mo smiled back.

"We should do the annual Big Sister/Little Sister camping trip every weekend!" Apple Bloom beamed.

"But isn't annual, like, once a year?" Darla asked.

"That's right, Darla," Mo nodded. "I'm sure it's fun, but I think once a year is more special."

"Agreed." Darla nodded.

"But the more we do it, the better we get at camping," Apple Bloom replied before looking to he older sister. "'Member the first time we came here and Rarity had that ginormous tent?"

"I can imagine." Mo chuckled to herself.

"I heard that!" Rarity smirked as she walked over. "I've gotten much better at 'roughing it', haven't I?"

"Yep, this time you only packed three suitcases." Sweetie Belle said as she had the three suitcases on her back.

"Oh, Rarity." Mo sighed as Darla giggled.

Applejack then smirked to the fashionista unicorn.

"I know what you're thinking, but I promise, I only brought the essentials." Rarity said to them.

"Like those lanterns?" Mo smirked.

They soon saw lanterns all around the campsite.

"Of course," Rarity smiled. "What is life if you can't make it beautiful?"

"Rainbow, how's it coming with gathering berries?" Darla asked.

"Hmm... None over here..." Rainbow Dash said, checking one bush before flying off to look for another one. "Oh, here's some! They look good enough to eat!"

"Be careful!" Darla called out. "Some berries are poisonous!"

"And where those berries are!" Scootaloo added.

Rainbow Dash soon saw Scootaloo with a guidebook and dropped the berries in her hooves. Scootaloo sighed in relief until a leaf landed on her nose and she gasped, landing on a twig, now looking scared to death, then saw a cave before screaming.

"Scootaloo, are you okay?" Mo asked.

"I heard something, I stepped on something, and I saw that creepy cave..." Scootaloo frowned. "I guess I still get a little bit scared out here, even after the last camping trip."

"Well, this time, you have a big sister." Darla smiled, referring to Rainbow Dash as the big sister.

Scootaloo smiled back to that. 

"I look out for her." Rainbow Dash chuckled, wrapping Scootaloo into a winged hug.

"We can tell." Mo smiled.

Scootaloo soon smiled back as that made her feel better.

"Is everything ready?" Mo asked.

"Should be good," Applejack smiled. "I think we should have the picnic."

"Yes, please," Darla replied. "All that homework really wet my appetite."

They soon set up the picnic.

"This looks amazing!" Apple Bloom beamed.

"That food looks so yummy." Darla agreed hungrily.

"This is gonna be the best Big Sister/Little Sister camping trip ever!" Sweetie Bell beamed.

"It sure is." Darla nodded.

They enjoyed their picnic as it felt like nothing could go wrong.

"Hot dogs...?" Mo asked.

"Don't worry, they're vegetarian." Applejack smiled.

"Thank you, guys!" Mo smiled back in relief.

But just as Sweetie Belle was about to take a bite of her carrot... They soon heard something. A bug seemed to land on Sweetie Belle's food and shot a web in her eye. A swarm of bugs soon came out all over them.

"Gross!" Darla cried out.

"Go on! Shoo!" Mo glared at the bugs.

The bugs soon swarmed in on them, making them scream out, and where Mo and Rainbow Dash began to try to fight off the bugs.

"These things are so gross!" Darla complained.

The bugs soon attacked, flying around and stinging them.

"Quit it, you bugs!" Darla told the bugs.

"What are these things?!" Scootaloo cried out.

"Flyders!" Applejack replied.

"Flyders?" Darla and Mo asked.

"You mean like they're hybrid bugs?" Mo asked Applejack.

"Yeah!" Applejack replied. "Be careful though! They have--"

SPLAT!

Applejack then fell flat on the ground with her legs stuck together. "Webs..." she then muttered.

"Quick, everypony in the cave!" Darla told the others.

They soon ran off to go into the cave to avoid the bugs, but Scootaloo panicked.

"Aaah! Not the scary cave!" Scootaloo panicked.

Rainbow Dash soon grabbed a hold of Scootaloo before zipping inside of the cave.

"Whew!" Mo sighed. "Is everypony okay?"

"Ugh... I feel itchy." Darla groaned as she scratched herself.

"Other than that; I think everypony is alright." Mo said.

"Where did those terrible bugs come from?" Scootaloo soon asked. "And why did they destroy our camp?"

"Flyders are from the Luna Bay area," Applejack replied. "Never seen 'em this far east, though. Probably attracted to the food. Best wait here until they're gone."

"Good idea." Mo nodded in agreement.

"Oh, apple rot! What are we supposed to do now?!" Apple Bloom complained. "We had games to play and marshmallows to roast at camp! In here, we got nuthin'!"

"Mm, that's not entirely true," Rarity replied before hugging Sweetie Belle. "We have each other."

"That's right." Darla nodded.

"That's right!" Applejack smiled. "And if you girls want to, maybe we could tell some stories to pass the time."

"Stories?!" Darla beamed.

"You want stories?" Rainbow Dash smirked. "I've got a ton of stories! Spoiler alert: they're all about me and how awesome I am!"

"I think she meant campfire stories." Mo told Rainbow Dash.

"But we don't even have a campfire." Apple Bloom said.

"I got this!" Rainbow Dash said as she dashed off, making a campfire, before throwing it out for them. 

"Wow, that sure was brave of you, Rainbow." Mo said.

"Eh... Heh... It was no biggie..." Rainbow Dash chuckled weakly, though she had more bites on her face. 

"Yikes." Mo winced.

Darla cupped her mouth as that looked kind of gross.

"We aren't gonna tell scary stories like our last camping trip, are we?" Scootaloo shivered. "It's bad enough just being in here!"

"Man, that camping trip really shook you up, huh, Scoots?" Mo asked.

"It sure did." Scootaloo shivered.

"Don't worry, Scootaloo," Applejack smiled. "Ah was gonna tell you mine and Apple Bloom's favorite legend."

"Ooh! You mean Rockhoof?" Apple Bloom beamed. "Ah love that one! He was so strong, and when he--"

"Apple Bloom, shhh!" Sweetie Belle shushed. "We haven't heard it yet!"

"Oh, okay," Apple Bloom smiled sheepishly. "But it's so good!"

"Is this the story telling us how Rockhoof became so strong?" Mo asked.

"Why, sure!" Applejack smiled.

"Ooh." Darla smiled back.

"Rockhoof was known far and wide for his incredible strength, but he didn't start out that way," Applejack soon began. "You see, Rockhoof was a tiny little fella, the son of a farmer."

"Just like us!" Apple Bloom piped up.

Applejack looked firmly to Apple Bloom for interrupting who laughed sheepishly.

"Oh, Apple Bloom." Mo giggled to the young filly.

Apple Bloom looked bashful to the others.

"They lived in a village that sat at the foot of a gigantic volcano." Applejack then continued.

"Ooh." Darla smiled.

"And the village was protected by an elite group of guard ponies called the Mighty Helm." Applejack continued to narrate as Darla imagined the story as it was being told.

A group of ponies watched two armored ponies who were fighting each other, but it was for fun. One pony beat the other and the two shared a laugh together. Another armored pony threw an axe at a tree stump target. A young Rockhoof was soon shown, coming into the scene, almost looking like a young Hercules.

"Young Rockhoof wanted nothing more than to be part of the Mighty Helm." Applejack continued.

Rockhoof smiled, trying to pull the axe out, but struggled and soon fell on his back in front of his heroes who just laughed at him at his attempt of trying to get the axe out.

"But he was told that he was too scrawny and weak to protect the village." Applejack continued to narrate.

The biggest Mighty Helm pony pulled out Rockhoof's arm which was limp as a noodle before giving him a shovel and tousled up his hair before going off with the others. 

Darla frowned as that sounded mean. "That must've been horrible."

"But Rockhoof wouldn't take no for an answer." Applejack continued to narrate.

Rockhoof pouted before narrowing his eyes in determination. Rockhoof was one day shoveling in the ground until he felt a rumbling and looked in horror to see what had caused it.

"Then, one fateful day, the volcano erupted!" Applejack soon exclaimed.

The volcano soon erupted.

"EEEEEEEEEE--" Rockhoof began to shriek, but it was actually a certain excited filly.

"EEEEEEEEEE!!~" Apple Bloom beamed. "This is my favorite part!"

"What happened next?!" Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Darla, and Rainbow Dash beamed.

Rarity and Mo smirked to them before smiling in their own excitement.

"The molten lava poured down the side of the volcano, and try as they might, the Mighty Helm couldn't figure out a way to save the village!" Applejack then continued. "They had to evacuate, but the village ponies didn't wanna leave their homes. They spent their entire lives there. They had nowhere else to go! So Rockhoof decided to do something crazy."

"Ooh, what did he do?" Darla smiled.

"He thought if he could divert the flow of the lava, he might be able to save his village," Applejack replied. "He started diggin' a trench!"

"Wait a minute. All by himself?" Sweetie Belle interrupted.

"It'd be impossible for one pony to dig a trench fast enough to stop the lava," Rainbow Dash said. "I mean, even I couldn't do that."

Apple Bloom smiled out of excitement as she knew how it was going to end. Mo giggled a bit to Apple Bloom's excitement.

"Good thing Rockhoof didn't believe in the word 'impossible'," Applejack continued. "He continued to work, knowin' the odds were against him, but determined to push through it. Then, somethin' magical happened."

"He got physically stronger?" Mo guessed.

"Oh, yes!" Applejack nodded. "But the lava was gettin' closer."

Darla began to use her imagination again.

All of the ponies looked nearly scared to death while Rockhoof did what he could do to save their home. Rockhoof continued to dig until something happened underground that made him big and strong as if by magic, and with his strength, he could shovel much faster like a modern machine, and where he soon reached the edge. Once he made it out, the lava flowed into the water. The other ponies were both shocked and amazed before cheering for Rockhoof. Even the armored ponies were amazed. Rockhoof jumped over the ditch filled with lava, putting his shovel in the ground with a victorious grin.

"Through his extraordinary determination and sheer force o' will, Rockhoof more than earned his place in the Mighty Helm." Applejack narrated with a smile.

This caused everyone to cheer.

"Good story, Applejack!" Rainbow Dash smiled. "Even if it wasn't about me."

The others laughed to that a bit.

"I love that story no matter how many times I hear it." Apple Bloom smiled.

"Why don't we see if it's safe to head back to camp?" Rarity suggested.

"Sure!" Darla smiled.

"Uh, guys...?" Sweetie Belle called. "There is no camp to go back to."

And where she was right as the Flyders seemed to have made the campsite their home.


	9. Chapter 9

"Oh, no..." Darla frowned.

"All our hard work is ruined!" Sweetie Belle cried.

"So not fair..." Darla frowned.

Both of the girls began to sulk.

"There, there, girls," Mo coaxed. "Not to worry."

"How?" Sweetie Belle pouted. "Our camp was so pretty, and this cave is so... Not."

"Not necessarily." Mo said.

"There's beauty in everything," Rarity soothed her little sister, showing her there was more to this cave than there appeared to be. "Even these blah rocks aren't really blah. If you look closely, you can see flecks of gold in them. And the way the firelight dances on the cave wall, shadow and light? Ooh, it's so gorgeous! Sweetie Belle, have I ever told you about my favorite legend?" she then asked with a smile.

"No. I didn't know you had one." Sweetie Belle replied.

"Her name was Mistmane." Rarity told her.

"Mistmane? Isn't she the old wrinkly sorceress with the flower?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeeees, but did you know she used to be the most beautiful unicorn in all the land?" Rarity glanced to her before smiling to Sweetie Belle.

"No." Rainbow Dash said flatly.

"So what happened to her?!" Darla and the Cutie Mark Crusaders beamed.

"Well, Mistmane was a very promising young sorceress," Rarity began. "She was as talented as she was beautiful and kind. Everypony loved her and missed her when she was sent to the finest magic school."

"Which of course Atticus's dad helped her gain the confidence in enrolling herself into the school." Mo said.

"Oh, yes, can't forget about that." Rarity smiled.

Darla imagined Mistmane's family saying goodbye to her as it was an emotional day for all.

Mistmane waved to them as she went off to school, though one pony didn't seem as thrilled as the others for the sorceress unicorn, but no one seemed to notice her behavior. Mistmane was soon seen working in school until she received a scroll.

"While she was gone, she was delighted to find out that her best friend, Sable Spirit, was crowned empress. She couldn't wait to return home once she finished her studies," Rarity continued to narrate. "But once she arrived, she was devastated by what she saw."

And where Mistmane wasn't the one that had the same reaction from what she saw so was Patrick.

"Um... Welcome home?" Patrick said weakly to Mistmane.

It looked like the place had been destroyed and a few ponies were out, not looking so good.

"What happened here?" Mistmane asked a stallion.

"The Empress happened," The stallion glared, pointing with his hoof. "She makes everypony work day and night on her palace. We don't have time to take care of anything else."

"But that can't be true." Patrick frowned.

"I know her!" Mistmane added. "She would never do this."

"But there was no denying what was in front of them." Rarity narrated. 

A young colt was soon seen running for his life with a flower in his possession. Unfortunately for him, another unicorn's magic took his flower away from him. The Empress was soon taken away once she had the flower. Patrick frowned for the poor young colt.

"Sable Spirit took everything that was beautiful away from anypony else!" Rarity continued. "And Mistmane was sure there had to be some explanation."

"I'm going out there." Mistmane narrowed her eyes as she trotted off with determination.

"I'm coming with you." Patrick told her as he joined her.

Mistmane looked to him and they soon went off together.

"I'd assume there was, too," Sweetie Belle agreed with her big sister's narration. "If somepony told me either one of you two'd gone evil..."

"Yeah, I'd never believe it." Scootaloo replied.

"Same here." Darla nodded.

"Ah dunno," Apple Bloom smirked to her two best friends. "Ah've seen the way you two get when you miss breakfast."

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both gave her a look.

"Just kiddin'," Apple Bloom chuckled nervously from that. "But Ah'd want answers too."

"And so did Mistmane and Atticus's father and so they went to confront her friend." Rarity said as she did a shadow puppet of Mistmane with Mo doing a shadow puppet of Patrick.

Mo chuckled a bit from the shadow puppets.

Mistmane and Patrick were soon coming up to the Empress's throne, and where they saw the Empress they were looking for.

"Sable? Is that you?" Mistmane asked.

"Don't tell me you don't recognize your old friend." Sable Spirit replied.

"I don't," Mistmane retorted. "My friend would never work our families and friends to the bone for something as silly as a palace."

"Silly? My palace is a beacon of beauty!" Sable Spirit hissed. "Anypony who passes will be in awe of its majesty!"

"What good is a pretty palace when it just hides the misery of its ponies?" Patrick glared at Sable Spirit.

"Beauty is everything," Sable Spirit replied. "Mistmane taught me that."

"What?!" Patrick and Mistmane yelped.

"You were always the pretty one," Sable Spirit told Mistmane. "You got to go to the best magic school. Everypony missed you. Everypony loved you! I admit I was jealous, so I tried to perform a spell that would make me beautiful. You can see how that went!" she then removed her veil to show a rather wrinkled up face.

"Ya!" Patrick yelped. "Well, it might have been a really advanced spell."

"You don't get it, do you?" Sable Spirit smirked. "I found if I couldn't have beauty, I would take it. I wasn't chosen to be empress, you know. I took it! Just like I'm going to take everything else."

"We can't let you do that!" Mistmane glared.

"Let me?!" Sable Spirit laughed before shooting her horn.

"Whoa!" Patrick yelped.

Mistmane was soon trapped in a cocoon.

"Hey! Let her out!" Patrick glared.

"Maybe you'd like to join her." Sable Spirit smirked.

Patrick glared before he saw Mistmane's magic getting herself free. Sable Spirit's eyes widened before she glared as her horn turned red. The guards soon ran away in a panic. Patrick knew exactly that this wouldn't be easy. Sable Spirit made a dragon image appear from her horn.

"What the...?" Patrick muttered to himself.

Mistmane did the same with her own horn which made the two dragons clash against each other. Patrick soon tried to do the same thing with his magic. Patrick's dragon came out between the two which was yellow, and where it joined Mistmane's dragon's side so they could fight Sable Spirit's dragon together. Sable Spirit glared as she fought with brute force while Mistmane showed patience and gentleness in comparison. 

And as for Patrick he went with patience as well. Eventually, the blue and yellow dragons won against the red dragon. However, the red dragon came back, coiling up against the two other dragons. But just like any battle, good triumphed over the bad dragon. Sable Spirit was soon trapped in her own cocoon. The ponies began to cheer and celebrate, but Mistmane couldn't be happy for what she did to her friend.

"Everypony thought Sable Spirit was defeated, and that was that, but Mistmane knew there was more she could do to help." Rarity narrated.

"What now?" Patrick frowned at Mistmane.

Mistmane frowned back before seeing the flower and began to levitate it over. Patrick began to follow her to see what she would do with the flower.

"Beauty isn't everything," Rarity narrated as the unicorn mare took the flower away to put it to good use. "But Mistmane knew that it does have the power to make ponies smile."

"So, what're you gonna do with the flower?" Patrick asked Mistmane.

"I'm going to help it grow beautifully," Mistmane smiled. "I know just what to do." She soon placed the flower in the center of the village and began to use her magic to help the flow grow beautifully, but not just the flower.

Patrick gave a small smile to Mistmane's generous act, though it cost her her visual beauty, appearing to look a bit old and withered.

"She made a huge sacrifice to bring that smile back to her friends' and family's faces," Rarity continued to narrate as the village was very beautiful and gracious again. "Including Sable Spirit's."

Sable Spirit was soon set free by Mistmane's magic and Sable Spirit was soon back to her visual beauty.

"You did this for me?" The Empress gasped as she took a look around. "Even after I was so cruel?"

Mistmane didn't say anything and simply hugged her old friend.

"What're friends for?" Patrick said to the Empress.

Sable Spirit sniffled before getting back into the hug.

"Sable Spirit was so touched that she vowed to be more like her friend in the ways that mattered," Rarity continued to narrate as the village was beautiful and happy. "From then on, she ruled with kindness and compassion."

Sable Spirit soon gave the unicorn colt a flower crown. The villager ponies soon celebrated their Empress now that they could have fun again.

"Thank you, Patrick." Mistmane smiled to the stallion.

"Any time, Mistmane." Patrick smiled back.

A couple of villagers looked up to a dying tree which had a spoiled apple left behind.

"Even though she gave away her physical beauty, she dedicated her life to spreading beauty all over Equestria," Rarity continued to narrate until Mistmane used her magic to make a brand new and healthy apple tree as she walked off, seeming to leave a trail of flowers in her step. "Any time you go out of your way to brighten somepony's day by doing something like giving them flowers, you're following in the hoofsteps of Mistmane."

"Cool." Darla smiled.

"I think she's my favorite legend too." Sweetie Belle said to Rarity.

The two unicorn sisters smiled and nuzzled each other.

"Nothing could ruin this moment." Darla smiled.

A web was soon shot out onto their campfire.

"T-They're in here now?!" Darla frowned, seeing the flyders coming into the cave.

Scootaloo soon screamed, having a bit of a mental breakdown.

"What do they want now?!" Mo complained.

"Well, like it or not, we're food, too." Applejack frowned.

"And I've got the bites to prove it." Darla added, looking at her arm.

"What are we gonna do?!" Scootaloo panicked. "They're almost here!"

"Rainbow Dash, quick, do something!" Mo told her.

"Got it!" Rainbow Dash replied, flying up and soon kicked down some rocks.

The rocks crumbled down and blocked the cave door, keeping the flyders out. The others soon gave her a look.

"What?!" Rainbow Dash replied. "Now those bugs can't get in!"

"But we can't get out!" Darla told her.

And where this caused Scootaloo to start panicking.


	10. Chapter 10

"Let's all just stay calm," Applejack said, trying to see if she could make a new fire. "Let me re-light this fire..."

Luckily for everyone, a new fire was soon created.

"We just have to wait until the swarm moves on," Rarity suggested. "Then we'll think of a way out."

"That's right." Mo nodded.

"How long will that be?!" Scootaloo panicked. "Don't bears live in caves?!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, Scootaloo," Rainbow Dash told the young filly. "You're focusing on the wrong things."

"You have a plan?!" Scootaloo asked.

"Close. I have a story." Rainbow Dash smirked.

"That's good." Mo smiled.

"Lemme guess; it's about you?" Applejack spoke up.

"Practically," Rainbow Dash smirked. "It's about my favorite legend: Flash Magnus!"

"Ooh." Mo smiled.

"Wasn't he the pony who took on the dragons?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Dragons?!" Scootaloo panicked. "Big, scary, mean ones or like Spike?"

"Oh, these were definitely the big, scary, mean kind!" Rainbow Dash smirked.

This caused Scootaloo to get even more scared as that wasn't helping. Mo frowned and soon came up to Scootaloo to help comfort her with her own experiences of looking after Junior whenever he needed help or comfort. Rarity and Applejack simply looked unimpressed with Rainbow Dash as that didn't help Scootaloo calm down.

"But not too scary," Rainbow Dash soon said. "You can sit closer to me if you want."

Scootaloo zipped over and shivered beside the older pegasus.

"A long time ago, before the Wonderbolts were even founded, Flash Magnus was a lowly cadet in the Royal Legion." Rainbow Dash soon began with a small smile.

'Good start.' Mo thought to herself.

Flash Magnus was flying with his fellow cadets before bumping wings with them while in flight.

"And the Legion needed to fly over the Dragon Lands to get to their comrades on the other side, but as they got closer to the dragons," Rainbow Dash narrated as the team soon went to the Dragon Lands before coughing from the smoke and saw very big and scary looking dragons from behind the smoke. "The dragons attacked!"

Scootaloo was soon seen on top of Rainbow Dash while holding her muzzle open. Mo cupped her muzzle with a snicker as that looked kind of funny.

"You said this wasn't too scary!" Scootaloo shivered.

Rainbow Dash tried to say something, but it was very muffled.

"What?" Scootaloo asked.

Rainbow Dash soon plucked her off. "I said if you just hang in there, I promise you'll like the ending," she then explained before going back into her story. "So, like I was saying, Flash Magnus and the Royal Legion tried to get past the dragons, but the dragons wouldn't let them!"

Darla began to use her imagination again.

She saw very large dragons surrounding the cadets and this didn't look very good for the Pegasi.

"Everypony, retreat!" Commander Ironhead commanded.

The ponies all flew away as quickly as they could.

"Flash Magnus and a few other cadets were separated from the battalion," Rainbow Dash narrated as the dragons attacked the ponies they could get their hands on. "He managed to get away, but the dragons captured his friends and took them back to their lair!"

Darla gasped as that was bad news. The ponies cried out as they were trapped. Flash Magnus began to fly after them only for Commander Ironhead to grab him and fly him away to safety.

"Commander, we need to rescue our captured comrades." Flash Magnus told Commander Ironhead.

"I appreciate your loyalty, Flash Magnus, but getting past those dragons is going to be impossible," Commander Ironhead told him. "Nothing will work."

Flash Magnus didn't like that answer and soon stopped to think so that he could go help the ones who were in trouble.

"But the commander was right; you can't fight dragons." Apple Bloom said.

"But you can out think 'em!" Rainbow Dash smirked.

Scootaloo still looked nervous.

Flash Magnus took a look out and soon formulated a plan for himself. "Commander Ironhead, I'm pretty sure I can outfly the dragons," he soon said. "If I can lure them into chasing me, you can all sneak into the lair and retrieve our friends before they get back."

"Are you really willing to take that chance, soldier?" Commander Ironhead asked.

"I am, sir." Flash Magnus saluted his superior.

"It's a very brave thing you're doing," Commander Ironhead told him, looking back to the others, and soon handed the younger Pegasus a shield. "You'll need all the help you can get."

"Is this... Netitus, the fireproof shield?!" Flash Magnus's eyes widened.

"It has protected Legion heroes for generations. And today, I can't think of a worthier flank for Netitus to protect," Commander Ironhead replied before they all shared a salute as it was all up to Flash Magnus now. "Good luck, soldier."

Flash Magnus soon flew off to the entrance of the dragon's cave after the salute. He took a deep breath and exhaled, now feeling ready. "Hey! Come and get me, fire-breath! If you can!" he soon called out, clanking the shield to get some attention. "Hey, hey! Come and get me! Hey, I'm over here!"

A dragon roared and soon came out to him, beginning to chase after him.

"While Flash Magnus bravely flew for his life, Commander Ironhoof was able to get his soldiers back." Rainbow Dash narrated.

"Whoa." Darla said.

The dragons snarled, breathing fire, and surprisingly to Flash Magnus, the flames seemed to avoid the shield as he kept flying for his life.

"Flash Magnus flew like the wind, faster than the dragons!" Rainbow Dash narrated. "But he knew he couldn't do this forever. Luckily, he had a plan." 

Commander Ironhead soon came out with the other cadets to help Flash Magnus with his plan.

"Ooh." Darla smiled.

The Pegasi soon worked together to help Flash Magnus carry out his plan. They soon made a very big and thick storm cloud together. Commander Ironhead then whistled for Flash Magnus once it was ready. Flash Magnus soon led the dragons into the storm cloud that Commander Ironhead and the other Pegasi had made.

"He led the dragons straight into a storm that the Legion had planted!" Rainbow Dash narrated as they made it into the storm cloud." One taste of the lightning, and the dragons retreated."

Darla's eyes widened as she saw the dragons get electrocuted by the lightning, even if they tried to kill the ponies, that looked a bit intense for her young mind. The dragons soon flew away in defeat.

"Those dragons had it coming." Darla said.

"I couldn't have said it better myself, kid." Rainbow Dash chuckled.

The other ponies were soon in suspense as Flash Magnus had not come back out just yet. Eventually, Flash Magnus made it out, coughing up some smoke with a weary smile.

"Flash Magnus' plan worked!" Rainbow Dash announced.

Most of the Pegasi cheered as they gave Flash Magnus a group hug. Flash Magnus soon came to return the shield. Commander Ironhead pushed it back, letting Flash Magnus keep it before he saluted the young cadet. Flash Magnus soon kept the shield with a satisfied smile.

Rainbow Dash soon had the same smile after the story ended.

"Wow! I did like that ending." Scootaloo beamed.

"I did too." Darla smiled.

"Told ya!" Rainbow Dash beamed, picking up Scootaloo. "He always inspired me to be my brave and awesome self."

"Mm-hmm!" Apple Bloom nodded to that.

"Yeah, Ah guess he kinda reminds me of you." Applejack commented.

"Yeah, same here." Mo added.

"Pfft!" Rainbow Dash scoffed. "You guess? Come on, I'm just like him!"

Everyone else soon laughed to that which made Rainbow Dash pout.

"Hey, do you hear that?" Applejack soon asked.

"I don't hear anything." Darla said.

The others soon realized they couldn't hear anything either.

"Exactly! Those gosh-darn Flyders are gone!" Applejack told them. "We can get out!"

"But if we try to get out through by removing the rocks, we might start another cave in." Mo said.

"We're gonna have to see if we can get out the other way." Applejack suggested.

"You mean go further into the dark, spooky cave?!" Scootaloo gulped, looking back into the darkness.

"Scootaloo, just remember the story," Rainbow Dash soothed. "Ya gotta be brave like me and Flash Magnus, okay?"

"We'll go further into the cave together." Mo smiled.

Darla looked a little nervous herself.

"It's okay." Mo soothed, comforting the young girl.

They soon began to walk down further into the cave. Rarity used her horn to light the way. They walked around for a bit, but it didn't take too long for them.

"I hear water!" Rainbow Dash beamed.

"And if there's flowing water, then..." Rarity added.

"It might lead to the way out!" Applejack concluded.

"Then we mustn't waste any time." Mo suggested.

"Agreed." Rarity nodded.

They then ran down the way and soon found some water like they had heard.

"Whoooa!" Darla and the CMC beamed to the water.

"Okay, on three," Rarity told the others. "One, two--"

"Three!" Darla, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle giggled as they jumped into the water.

"Guess they couldn't wait." Mo giggled.

"Well, we better go with 'em so we don't get left behind." Applejack chuckled.

They all soon jumped in after the fillies, going down the stream together. It was all very fun going on the way down. 

"This is my best camping trip ever!" Darla beamed.

They soon arrived at where the water ends. Rainbow Dash flew Scootaloo over the water once they made it out. Everyone soon came out of the water, laughing together.

"Well, whatya know?" Applejack smiled once she saw something. "We found ourselves a shortcut to Winsome Falls!"

"And we made it in record time." Mo smiled back.

"The Falls never looked so beautiful." Scootaloo smiled to the rainbow streams.

"Mo, this is the most fun I've ever had camping," Darla beamed as she hugged the older girl. "I'm glad you took me!"

"Me too." Mo smiled back.

"You're a great big sister." Darla smiled.

"Well, I hope someday to be an even better sister-in-law." Mo winked to her with a small smile back.

"I'm sure you will." Darla smiled back.

Rarity smiled and soon gave flower crowns to Darla and the CMC.

"Whoa." Darla and the CMC smiled.

"We sure are sorry that our camping trip wasn't what we hoped it would be." Applejack frowned to the young fillies.

"Are you kidding? This trip is awesome!" Apple Bloom beamed.

"Yeah!" Darla added.

"It is?" Rarity asked, a bit shocked.

"We got to hear legendary stories and go on an adventure." Sweetie Belle smiled.

"And I got to bond with Mo!" Darla added.

"Wait, you four wanna stay?" Applejack asked the girls.

"Of course we do!" The four fillies beamed.

"We can turn those trees into a nice little shelter." Sweetie Belle smiled as she pointed to some trees.

"We can get you some big logs and branches to help build it!" Apple Bloom suggested.

"And I bet we could find some more berries! Come on!" Scootaloo beamed before they all soon ran off together. 

"I bet we could tell some more amazing stories!" Darla added.

"I can't wait to see what happens next year!" Scootaloo added.

Mo smiled tearfully as she had a great time with Darla, glad that they were able to spend some time together.

Meanwhile, in the gym, Atticus was now not alone as Cherry was soon with him, both being held to keep in shape for something.

"Why are... We... Doing this...?" Cherry grunted, doing some sit-ups before falling flat on her back with a groan and panted a bit.

"You two are going to need to help the Justice League soon." Drell told her and Atticus.

"Oh, okay." Atticus said.

"So, that's why we're training in Hell?" Cherry asked.

Drell rolled his eyes from that. "Well... Yes," he then said. "But not only that. You guys will have a treat after that, and not just hanging around Batman and Superman."

"Wahoo!" Atticus cheered.

"And what would this 'treat' be?" Cherry asked. "We get to hear the story of how you know Batman and Superman?"

"Nooo..." Drell rolled his eyes. "Do you guys happen to know who the Avengers are?"

"Yeah." Atticus nodded.

"Hm... I didn't expect that reaction." Drell replied.

"Wait! Do you mean we get to meet the Avengers?!" Atticus asked.

"Gangway!" Cherry rushed off.

"Someday, yes." Drell said.

"That... Is... AWESOME!!!" Atticus beamed as he seemed to bounce off the walls in excitement.

"Yes, it is." Drell said.

Atticus kept bouncing around like a pinball loose in a machine. Drell looked in deadpan before grabbing Atticus around his neck in his arm with a headlock, smirking to the young Wiccan.

"When do we get to meet them?" Atticus smiled.

"Oh, sometime after you guys help Batman and Superman," Drell replied. "Batman senses something strange going on."

"Huh... No wonder my phone's been going off during these workouts." Cherry said as she took out her phone to see several texts and missed calls from her godfather.

"You better answer him then." Drell said.

"You're the one who told me to ignore my phone!" Cherry replied.

"Don't make this about me," Drell told her. "It's my not my fault you ignored your phone."

"Argh!" Cherry complained, going off to make a phone call.

Atticus soon felt his cell phone vibrate.

"What did I say about phones?" Drell asked.

Atticus rolled his eyes and soon checked it to see texts from his 'Uncle Clark'.

"Alright, you can answer his text." Drell said.

Atticus soon jumped down to the floor, checking his phone. "Hmm... There is an interesting case going on with the Justice League, I see.."

"I'll say!" Cherry replied as she came out with her phone.

"Let me guess; Batman told you the same thing, right?" Atticus asked.

"Yeah, he did," Cherry said. "Something about terrorists and that the whole League might be concerned."

"The Thanagarians must be coming." Drell said.

Cherry and Atticus looked to him, each other, then back at him out of confusion. "The Whatagarians?"

"...The people from the Planet Thanagar," Drell told them. "They were people who looked like humans, but large, feathered, flight-capable wings on their backs."

"You mean like Hawk Girl?" Atticus asked.

"That's where Hawk Girl comes from," Drell replied. "That must be what Superman and Batman are trying to tell you about."

"Seems like it." Atticus said.

"You know Hawk Girl?" Cherry asked Drell.

Drell gave her a look from that question.

"Right... You know everyone..." Cherry said nervously.

"Of course I do." Drell smirked.

"How?!" Cherry complained.

"Magic," Drell told her. "That, and I've been alive for nearly 600 years."

"600 years?!" Atticus and Cherry yelped. 

"We knew you were old, but not that old!" Atticus told Drell.

"Ah, yes, thank you, I did age a bit gracefully." Drell smiled boastfully.

"We can tell." Cherry grumbled.

"Can we go home now?" Atticus asked. "I smell like the high school locker room!"

"Yeah, go ahead, good luck with the Justice League, sorry for keeping you from camping with your little sister." Drell told him.

"It's alright, besides, it was an Annual Sister camping trip." Atticus said.

"So can we go now then?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, you can go," Drell said, pointing the door to them. "Don't let the time-space continuum hit you on the way out."

"Space-Time continuum." Cherry grumbled in correction.

They soon left Drell's gym.

"Mom? Dad?" Cherry called out once she was back home before seeing a note from her parents who were now off to work, and sighed, feeling a little lonely. 

A dog soon barked to her, looking up at her.

"Ace?" Cherry asked. 

Ace barked to Cherry and soon brought her outside to a limo.

"Can't this wait until after I shower?" Cherry asked.

Ace soon sniffed Cherry, wincing a bit.

"Cherry, we can't waste too much time--" Bruce said, coming out of the limo. "Ugh! When was the last time you showered?"

"On it!" Cherry rolled her eyes, going to the bathroom of her house.

Later, after the shower was then done...

Cherry soon came out and came into the limo with Bruce.

"I got a hot tip on this," Bruce told Cherry. "We might need everybody involved, not just Superman. Maybe even Wonder Woman or The Flash."

"Whoa." Cherry said.

"Yes, it's quite serious." Bruce told her. 

Cherry soon nodded as they began to leave her home.

Meanwhile, at the Fudo household...

Atticus was showering, and soon finished, turning off the water and wrapping a towel around his body as he came to go to his room to get dressed. After he got dressed, he soon heard a dog barking. "Hmm... That doesn't sound like Patch..." he said to himself before going to see where the barking was coming from.

A white dog was shown to be barking at Atticus.

"Krypto? Oh, Krypto!" Atticus smiled to Superman's dog.

"Thought that might get your attention." Krypto smiled back.

"Superman needs me, doesn't he?" Atticus guessed.

"Yes, there's something strange going on." Krypto told him.

"Then I better get going." Atticus said.

"Yes, you must." Krypto told him.

"All right, give me about five minutes." Atticus said as he went to get ready.

"Alright." Krypto said.

Atticus soon went to get himself ready and soon came out to meet Krypto.

"Come on, let's go!" Krypto told Atticus.

"Alright." Atticus said.

They soon went off together as Cherry went with Bruce and Ace the Bat Hound which would open up a brand new adventure next time.

The End


End file.
